UpBit, one of the leading South Korean cryptocurrency exchange companies, had its security compromised on Wednesday. It notified its users of a theft of 342,000 Ether (ETH). According to an internal investigation, the digital assets were transferred from the hot wallet of the exchange to an unidentified wallet address.
As a result of the hack, the South Korean exchange has suspended deposit and withdrawal services.
CEO of UpBit’s operator Dunamu, Lee Seok-woo, delivered the shocking news. According to him, at 1:06 in the afternoon on November 27, 2019, approximately 58 billion won or 342,000 ETH was transferred from the Upbeat Ethereum Hot Wallet to an unknown wallet. The address of the unknown wallet was 0xa09871AEadF4994Ca12f5c0b6056BBd1d343c029, as stated on their official statement.
As damage control, UpBit has transferred all other funds to a cold wallet. Additionally, it temporarily suspended all withdrawal and deposit services. The CEO then says that it will take an estimate of at least two weeks for the deposit and withdrawal services to resume. The company will notify the users of the exchange once the services are back in operation again.
Currently, Ether trading is at $144 apiece. That makes the total value of the lost funds at roughly $50 million dollars.
Damage Control on the Aftermath
UpBit has reassured victims of the theft that they will be compensated with corporate assets of the exchange.
To put out fires and diffuse panic in the market, CEO Lee says that all other major fund transfers from the exchange’s wallets were not abnormal. These are funds they are moving themselves, from hot wallets to a much secure cold wallet platform.
The crypto community already noticed the unexpectedly large transactions from the crypto exchange. They suspected a hack or movement by whales, even prior to the official announcement of the theft.
Also read: Cryptocurrency: A Brief Explanation on Stake
