Freezing is not repayment. Under $USDT's Ethereum contract, blacklisting blocks outgoing token transfers but leaves the balance at the wallet. That action does not itself return funds to Mercado Bitcoin or its customers.
Mercado Bitcoin said it had contained an overnight security incident, that customers had suffered no losses and that no data had leaked. It suspended deposits and withdrawals as a precaution.
Circle and Paxos Freezes
Polygon records show Circle blacklisted a wallet at 11:19 a.m. ET. The address matches the Ethereum-compatible destination disclosed by Mercado Bitcoin for incident-related movements. It held about 707,767 $USDC when checked.
On Ethereum, a Paxos freeze transaction at 9:28 a.m. ET targeted another wallet holding 369 $PAXG, a gold-backed token. Its transfer history shows those tokens arrived from the exchange-disclosed destination in two transfers.
Tether's $USDT blacklist actions are also visible on Ethereum and Tron, against destinations named by Mercado Bitcoin. CEO Paolo Ardoino earlier said Tether had frozen more than 4.5 million $USDT, as The Defiant reported. Specter's cross-asset tally also includes $USDT, so it overlaps with that announcement rather than adding another $6.8 million to it.
For scale, Specter's $6.8 million estimate equals about 15% of the $46 million portfolio Arkham attributed to the attacker earlier that day, according to The Defiant's calculation. The figures are separate intraday snapshots, not a verified recovery rate or an exchange-confirmed loss total.
At 11:09 a.m. ET, Mercado Bitcoin said transaction access remained temporarily suspended and it was working to normalize the platform.
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