Asian cryptocurrency exchange Bingx confirmed on Sept. 20 that a hacking attack forced them to suspend withdrawals. While the company claimed “minor asset loss,” security firm Cyvers estimated total losses at approximately $52 million. This figure is nearly double the $26 million initially reported by other forensics firms.
However, Bingx Labs Chief Product Officer, Vivien Lin, reassured users in a statement, saying the exchange only stores a small portion of assets in hot wallets, with the rest kept in secure cold storage. The withdrawal suspension is aimed at facilitating an emergency security inspection and strengthening wallet services. Lin pledged a 24-hour restoration of withdrawals.
Explaining the higher loss estimate, Hakan Unal, Senior Security Operations Lead at Cyvers, cited a more comprehensive analysis of the incident across all affected chains which led to a “more accurate estimate of the $52 million loss.”
Meanwhile, Unal suggested that the North Korea-linked Lazarus Group may be behind this latest attack on yet another Asian crypto exchange.
“This hacker’s behaviour—using multiple wallets to swap altcoins into ETH and BNB before consolidating—is consistent with the tactics we’ve seen in past Lazarus operations. While we can’t confirm a direct link yet, the similarities are notable,” Unal explained.
As previously reported by Bitcoin.com News, the Lazarus Group is also suspected of being behind the recent attack on the Indonesian exchange Indodax, where hackers allegedly stole $20.5 million in digital assets. This follows similar thefts exceeding $230 million from the Indian exchange Wazirx and over 4,500 bitcoins (BTC) ($300 million) from the Japanese exchange DMM Bitcoin.
According to cybersecurity firm Cyvers, the scale and sophistication of these incidents highlight the need for more advanced security measures, especially for crypto exchanges operating in Asia.