Hot wallets of cryptocurrency exchange BingX have come under hacker attack

The incident was discovered by the blockchain security department PeckShield, which reported a "suspicious significant outflow of funds" from the exchange's accounts totaling over $13.5 million.

BingX's Chief Product Officer, Vivien Lin, confirmed the breach, noting that around 4 a.m. Singapore time, their technical team detected suspicious network access, indicating an attack on the exchange's hot wallet.

Emergency security measures

In response to the threat, BingX initiated its emergency action plan, which included the urgent transfer of assets and suspension of withdrawals.

Lin noted that a multi-level management system is used to protect user assets, with the majority of funds stored in cold wallets and only a minimal amount remaining in hot wallets for withdrawals.

The exchange's management assured users that, while withdrawals are temporarily suspended for an emergency review, the exchange plans to resume the service within 24 hours.

BingX's official account on the X network also reported that the company suffered minor losses and has already mitigated the consequences of the attack. It is known that most assets remain safe in cold wallets, while only a limited amount was affected in the hot wallets.

Rising losses

However, PeckShield reported that the total losses had risen to over $43 million. Later, Cyvers Alerts updated the information, noting that total losses exceeded $52 million, with most of the stolen assets being converted. Affected blockchains include Ethereum, BNBChain, BASE, Optimism, Polygon, Arbitrum, and Avalanche.

Suspected wallet

According to EtherScan data, the address being tracked by PeckShield received various tokens worth millions of dollars from different blockchains. The source of these transfers was a wallet named "BingX 15" — one of the exchange's hot wallets.