BtcTurk, a leading Turkish cryptocurrency exchange, has fallen victim to a cyber attack. The incident resulted in unauthorized access to some of its hot wallets.
The exchange reports asset losses for some users. But the overall financial stability remains intact, the BtcTurk officials claim.
The hack occurred on June 22. It raised concerns in the crypto community. The total amount lost remains undisclosed.
BtcTurk stated that only hot wallets of 10 cryptocurrencies were compromised. Cold wallets, holding the majority of assets, remain secure. The exchange has disabled all withdrawal and deposit transactions.
Binance CEO Richard Teng announced a joint investigation with BtcTurk. It has led to the recovery of $5.3 million in stolen assets. Teng stated: "Binance is assisting BtcTurk with investigations and has frozen over $5.3M in stolen funds so far. Our investigations & security teams work around the clock as part of our proactive efforts to protect the ecosystem from bad actors. We will provide further updates as relevant."
On-chain investigator ZachXBT provided insights into the potential hackers. He linked them to an address that recently transferred 1.96 million AVAX ($54.2 million) to Coinbase and THORChain. This transfer caused a 10% decline in AVAX price.
ZachXBT's theory is based on BtcTurk's market AVAX address on the Avalanche X-chain. The exchange has not confirmed or denied this theory.
BtcTurk assures users of their assets' safety. It claims the hack has not affected its robust financial position.
This incident marks the second crypto exchange hack in 2024. In May, Japanese platform DMM Bitcoin lost $305 million in BTC.
Crypto exchange hacks draw attention due to their custodial nature. These platforms control users' private keys. They often hold larger funds than decentralized finance (DeFi) counterparts. For perspective, Binance records 13 times the daily trading volume of Uniswap, the largest decentralized exchange. This data comes from Coingecko.