Singapore Exchange Bitrue Hacked for Over $4 Million in Crypto

Bitrue was hacked early Thursday morning for over $4 million in XRP and cardano. Users who experienced losses will be refunded, it says.

AccessTimeIconJun 27, 2019 at 8:10 a.m. UTC
Updated Aug 18, 2021 at 1:03 p.m. UTC

Presented By Icon

Election 2024 coverage presented by

Stand with crypto

Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitrue has been hacked for around $4.2 million in user assets.

The platform announced the breach in tweets, saying that the event was identified at around 1 a.m. local time Thursday. Users funds are insured and anyone who lost cryptocurrency would be refunded, according to the company.

  • Bitcoin Mining in the U.S. Will Become 'a Lot More Decentralized': Core Scientific CEO
    13:18
    Bitcoin Mining in the U.S. Will Become 'a Lot More Decentralized': Core Scientific CEO
  • Binance to Discontinue Its Nigerian Naira Services After Government Scrutiny
    05:10
    Binance to Discontinue Its Nigerian Naira Services After Government Scrutiny
  • The first video of the year 2024
    04:07
    The first video of the year 2024
  • The last regression video of the year 3.67.0
    40:07
    The last regression video of the year 3.67.0
  • The exchange said:

    "First of all, please let us assure you that this situation is under control, 100% of lost funds will be returned to users, and we are reviewing our security measures and policies to ensure this does not happen again."

    Bitrue further detailed that 9.3 million XRP, worth $4.01 million, and 2.5 million cardano (ADA), worth $231,800, had been accessed and transferred off its platform.

    As for how the breach occurred, the exchange explained:

    "A hacker exploited a vulnerability in our Risk Control team's 2nd review process to access the personal funds of about 90 Bitrue users. The hacker used what they learned from this breach to then access the Bitrue hot wallet and move 9.3 million XRP and 2.5 million ADA to different exchanges."

    Bitrue is working with the Huobi, Bittrex and ChangeNOW exchanges and says they have frozen funds and accounts associated with the hack.

    In another tweet, Bitrue said it is conducting an emergency inspection of its systems and aims to be up and running normally again "as soon as possible."

    Early this year, Bitrue said it was also affected by a 51-percent attack on the ethereum classic cryptocurrency in which a hacker had tried to withdraw 13,000 ETC but claimed the attempted theft had been stopped by its system.

    ADA is currently trading down nearly 6 percent at $0.092, while XRP is down nearly 9 percent at $0.43, according to CoinMarketCap data. It's worth noting that the wider crypto market is generally in the red at press time.

    Singapore image via Shutterstock

    Disclosure

    Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information have been updated.

    CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk has adopted a set of principles aimed at ensuring the integrity, editorial independence and freedom from bias of its publications. CoinDesk is part of the Bullish group, which owns and invests in digital asset businesses and digital assets. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive Bullish group equity-based compensation. Bullish was incubated by technology investor Block.one.


    Learn more about Consensus 2024, CoinDesk's longest-running and most influential event that brings together all sides of crypto, blockchain and Web3. Head to consensus.coindesk.com to register and buy your pass now.