Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx Global has been hit by a cyberattack, resulting in an estimated loss of $43 million in cryptocurrencies.
The attack took place on September 12, 2023, and affected CoinEx’s Ethereum, TRON, and Polygon wallets. The company has confirmed the incident in a post on social media and said that it launched an investigation into the hack.
“On September 12, 2023, our Risk Control System detected anomalous withdrawals from several hot wallet addresses used to store CoinEx's exchange assets. Promptly recognizing the gravity of the situation, we immediately established a special investigative team to delve into the matter,” CoinEx said, noting that the precise amount of the loss is still being determined, and the affected funds are just a very small portion of CoinEx’s total asset.
Following the breach the exchange halted deposit and withdrawal services and assured customers that the affected parties would receive full compensation for any loss due to the hack.
On Wednesday morning the exchange said it identified a second and a third set of suspicious wallet addresses linked to the breach, which siphoned off tokens such as Ether, XRP, Solana, Kadena and Dagger.
Blockchain security and data analytics company PeckShield estimated CoinEx loss to be roughly $43 million - ~$19M (ETH), ~$11M (TRON), ~$6.4M (BSC), ~$6M (BTC), ~$295K (MATIC).
Earlier this month, the world’s largest cryptocurrency casino and sportsbook platform Stake suffered a security breach that saw more than $41 million in crypto assets stolen from its hot wallets. The FBI has linked the hack to the infamous North Korean threat actor Lazarus Group previously blamed for multiple high-profile crypto thefts such as the $100 million Harmony Bridge hack and the $622 million Ronin Network heist.
