BingX Hit by $42 Million Hack Amid Rising Crypto Security Breaches
BingX suffers a $42 million hack, adding to a series of crypto security breaches this week, highlighting vulnerabilities across the industry.
BingX, a major crypto exchange, has suffered a $42 million hack, adding to a string of security breaches within the cryptocurrency sector this week. Over 360 different altcoins were stolen and quickly exchanged for Ethereum (ETH) and Binance Coin (BNB), prompting BingX to temporarily suspend withdrawals to prevent further losses.
The breach was first noticed by PeckShield, a blockchain security firm, which reported suspicious activity early Thursday morning. Initially, about $26 million in digital assets were reported stolen, but further analysis raised the total to $42 million. The stolen funds included millions in stablecoins like USDT, USDC, and WUSD, as well as Bitcoin and numerous other tokens. The assets were transferred to a wallet address before being exchanged for ETH and BNB.
In response, BingX's Chief Product Officer, Vivien Lin, confirmed the hack and assured users that the company had taken immediate steps to mitigate further damage. She emphasized that the exchange's hot wallet had been targeted, and withdrawals were halted as part of the emergency response. Lin reassured customers that BingX would cover the full amount of the stolen funds using its own reserves and promised to resume withdrawals within 24 hours to regain user confidence.
This incident is part of a wider trend of increasing crypto platform hacks, highlighting security vulnerabilities across the sector. Earlier this week, the DeFi protocol DeltaPrime lost nearly $6 million in another attack, while the Indonesian exchange Indodax recently suffered a breach that resulted in over $20 million in losses. These repeated hacks have raised concerns about the lack of security measures in place to defend against increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks.
As the crypto industry faces growing threats, experts continue to call for stronger security protocols to protect users' funds. These breaches have exposed the weaknesses in many platforms, emphasizing the urgent need for improved safeguards to combat the ongoing rise in attacks.