Bitrue cryptocurrency exchange suffered a hot wallet attack that allowed attackers to withdraw nearly $23 million worth of various crypto assets.
Announcing the news on April 14, Bitrue said it had to temporarily suspend all withdrawals because its hot wallet was "briefly exploited." The company expects to reopen withdrawals on April 18, 2023, following additional security checks. Bitrue emphasized that it was able to resolve the matter quickly, which allowed the platform to prevent further loss of funds. “We take this matter seriously and are currently investigating the situation,” Bitrue said, adding that the affected hot wallets accounted for less than 5% of the exchange’s total funds. The company wrote:
"The rest of our wallets continue to remain safe and uncompromised. We are conducting a thorough security review and will update you as progress is made." Bitrue executives pledged to fully compensate all confirmed users affected by the incident. According to the announcement, the affected currencies in the exploited hot wallet include Ether, Shiba Inu, Quantified (QNT), Gala, Holographic (HOT), and Polygonal.
As previously reported, over the past few years, hackers have increasingly opted for decentralized finance (DeFi) hacks, straying slightly from traditional centralized exchanges. According to Chainalysis, in the first three months of 2022, cryptocurrency exchange hacks accounted for only 3% of all cryptocurrencies stolen, while 97% came from DeFi protocols. Founded in Singapore in 2018, Bitrue is a major centralized cryptocurrency exchange that trades an average of nearly $2 billion in cryptocurrencies per day, according to CoinGecko. The company has been hacked in the past, losing nearly $5 million in Cardano Due to a hot wallet hack in 2019.
