On Friday, Bitrue, a Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange, reported that one of its hot wallets was exploited by a hacker, resulting in a loss of approximately $23 million. As a precautionary measure, the platform has temporarily halted all withdrawals until April 18, to carry out security checks and resolve the issue.
According to Bitrue's announcement, the hack was detected at 07:18 UTC and affected several digital assets, including ETH, QNT, GALA, SHIB, HOT, and MATIC. The exchange shared the news of the incident via a tweet.
Bitrue clarified that the impacted hot wallet contained less than 5% of the exchange's total funds. The platform assured users that the remaining wallets were secure and had not been compromised. The team also announced that a comprehensive security review will be conducted, and a detailed post-mortem report will be published.
To ensure the safety of its users, Bitrue has suspended all withdrawals until April 18. Additionally, the exchange has pledged to provide full compensation to all affected users identified in the aftermath of the incident.
Bitrue has experienced previous security breaches before the recent hack. In 2019, the platform lost approximately $4.2 million in user assets when a hacker took advantage of a vulnerability in the Risk Control team's review process, resulting in the theft of personal funds belonging to about 90 Bitrue users.
Bitrue is a centralized cryptocurrency exchange headquartered in Singapore, established in 2018. According to CoinGecko data, the platform has a daily trading volume of around $2 billion, with bitcoin and ether being among the most frequently traded token pairs.
