The hackers were in possession of a stolen digital key for a so-called hot wallet, company founder Sheldon Xia announced on Monday. A “hot wallet” is a software wallet for crypto currencies such as Bitcoin that is connected to the Internet.
After the break-in, Bitmart temporarily suspended all withdrawals until further notice. The company had initially put the damage at around 150 million US dollars in an initial statement.
The hackers fell into the hands of digital coins based on the Ethereum and Binance blockchains, the blockchain security company PeckShield announced on Twitter. PeckShield had also discovered and reported the break-in on Sunday.
Company boss Xia wrote on Twitter that in response to this incident, Bitmart had carried out initial security checks and identified affected values. “This security breach was primarily caused by a stolen private key that compromised two of our hot wallets. Other assets with Bitmart are safe and sound.”
Bitmart plans to compensate users out of pocket, Xia said. The exchange will announce a schedule to gradually resume deposits and withdrawals, he said, adding he was “confident” that they will resume on Tuesday.
Source: Nachrichten
