Asian cryptocurrency exchange Bingx has been hacked, resulting in withdrawals being suspended and an estimated $52 million in losses. Bingx claims the amount stolen is small because it primarily stores user assets in cold wallets, which were not targeted by the hackers. A security firm believes a North Korea-linked hacker group, Lazarus Group, may be responsible based on the tactics used.

Bingx promises to restore withdrawals within 24 hours

Asian cryptocurrency exchange Bingx confirmed on September 20 that a hack had forced it to suspend withdrawals. While the company claimed “minor asset losses,” security firm Cyvers estimated the total loss at around $52 million. That’s nearly double the $26 million initially reported by other forensics firms.

However, Bingx Labs Product Manager Vivien Lin reassured users in a statement, saying that the exchange only stores a small portion of assets in hot wallets, with the rest stored in secure cold storage. The withdrawal suspension is intended to facilitate urgent security checks and enhance wallet services. Lin pledged to restore withdrawals within 24 hours.

Explaining the higher damage estimate, Hakan Unal, Senior Security Operations Lead at Cyvers, cited a more comprehensive analysis of the incident across all affected chains, which resulted in a “more accurate estimate of $52 million in damage.”

Targeted Asian Exchanges

Meanwhile, Unal believes that the North Korea-linked Lazarus Group could be behind this latest attack on another cryptocurrency exchange in Asia.

“The behavior of this hacker—using multiple wallets to swap altcoins into ETH and BNB before merging—is consistent with tactics we have seen in previous Lazarus operations. While we cannot confirm a direct connection, the similarities are striking,” Unal explained.

As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, Lazarus Group is also suspected of being behind the recent hack of Indonesian exchange Indodax, where hackers allegedly stole $20.5 million in digital assets. This follows similar thefts of over $230 million from Indian exchange Wazirx and over 4,500 bitcoin (BTC) ($300 million) from Japanese exchange DMM Bitcoin.

According to cybersecurity firm Cyvers, the scale and complexity of these incidents highlight the need for more advanced security measures, especially for cryptocurrency exchanges operating in Asia.

What do you think about this story? Please share your opinion in the comments section below.
#binance #bingx #wendy #bitcoin #eth $BTC $ETH $BNB