- CoinEx continued to suffer from its security breach, as hackers exploited the exchange further.
- The exchange suspended deposits and withdrawals in response.
On 12 September, crypto exchange CoinEx found itself the target of a cybersecurity breach. This breach affected multiple wallets, including those holding Ethereum [ETH], TRON [TRX], and Polygon [MATIC] tokens. However, the situation escalated as the number of stolen funds continued to rise.
The plot thickens
According to SlowMist, the amount stolen from CoinEx reached a staggering $54 million on 13 September, underlining the magnitude of the attack. Responding swiftly, CoinEx took the proactive measure of suspending both deposits and withdrawals.
The exchange also made a strong commitment to fully compensate all users impacted by this security breach.
We conducted a statistical analysis of the balance of the hacker's addresses and found that the total amount of @coinexcom stolen funds was ~$54M.
We have placed an monitor on those hacker addresses and will work to join forces with other platforms to try to freeze the stolen… https://t.co/e2jwDho1VG pic.twitter.com/jXX0nEdBQM
— MistTrack?️ (@MistTrack_io) September 13, 2023
One particularly concerning aspect of this hack was the unauthorized access to data from an ENS domain. This breach of sensitive data emphasized the severity of the intrusion and the potential risks associated with it.
Interestingly, most of the tokens that were stolen did not experience significant drops in their market prices. However, one token, BRG, witnessed a substantial decline in value, which raised concerns within the cryptocurrency community.
The team behind BRG, known as the Bridge Oracle team, took immediate action to address the issue. They publicly called upon CoinEx to find a solution and compensate the community members who were affected by the theft of 669,487,946 BRG tokens.
? Urgent Announcement ?
1/ We are sorry to inform you that a security breach has occurred on @coinexcom exchange, resulting in the theft of 669,487,946 $BRG tokens!
We demand a solution from #CoinEX for the stolen #BRG tokens and to compensate the affected community members https://t.co/rKVChJStvx pic.twitter.com/RPtKBZfxBt
— Bridge (@bridge_oracle) September 12, 2023
CoinEx responds
In response to the hack, CoinEx clarified that it had swiftly formed a dedicated investigative team. Preliminary assessments revealed that unauthorized transactions involving cryptocurrencies such as ETH, TRON, and MATIC had occurred.
The exchange further promised 100% compensation for any losses to users due to this breach. Furthermore, to enhance security measures, the exchange temporarily suspended both deposit and withdrawal services. These services would only resume after a thorough and comprehensive security review had been completed.
After the breach, additional tweets disclosed the addresses and wallets used by the hackers. As of the latest information available, the distribution of the stolen assets included:
- 11,377 ETH tokens worth $18M
- 137M TRX tokens worth $11M
- 29,552 Binance Coin [BNB] tokens worth $6.2M
- 231 Bitcoin [BTC] worth $5.9M
- 12.6M Ripple [XRP] tokens worth $6M
- 135,602 Solana [SOL] tokens worth $2.4M
At press time, 97% of all withdrawals occurring on centralized exchanges were happening through CoinEx, according to Arkham intelligencce’s data.
Source: Arkham Intelligence
CoinEx’s thorough and transparent response to the hacking incident aimed to instill confidence among its user base. Nevertheless, the event serves as a stark reminder of the ongoing security challenges within the cryptocurrency industry.
