$26 million was hacked from BingX’s hot wallet as the product chief labeled it a “minor loss” and asked users not to worry.
Singapore-based exchange BingX was hit by an attack that led millions of dollars worth of crypto assets to be drained from its hot wallet. Its chief product officer, Viven Lin, said the hot wallet held minimal funds, thus not affecting user holdings.
The hack occurred at 4 AM Singapore time on September 20. Lin’s X post mentioned that BingX’s “technical team detected abnormal network access, suspecting a hacker attack.” The team then worked to transfer assets to secure locations and halted withdrawals from the platform to prevent any more assets from getting drained. She said the hack resulted in a “minor loss” and “that the amount is small and still being calculated.”
Lin iterated that BingX uses a “layered management system” that bifurcates assets in cold and hot wallets. This method enables exchanges to maintain the efficiency needed to honor quick withdrawals for users by leaving minimal liquidity in hot wallets. The bulk of the asset under management (AUM) is stored in cold wallets, far from networks, to prevent hackers from walking away with all of an exchange’s funds. Hot wallets are considered vulnerable due to their round-the-clock online exposure. She also let users know their withdrawals would be resumed in 24 hours since the emergency operations kicked in.
$26 Million Stolen Through 360 Altcoins
Blockchain security firm PeckShield initially posted about the hack to mention that $13.6 million was drained. It then updated its reporting to say that BingX had about $26.7 million stolen. Lookonchain, another blockchain security firm, stated the exchange observed a $26 million hack. It reported how the exchange “seems to have been attacked” with “more than 360 altcoins (worth more than $26M) being transferred to wallet “0xF7e8” and then swapped for $ETHand $BNB.”
It looks like the hacker has started obfuscating their fund flows by sending small amounts of the stolen crypto to the Kyberswap decentralized exchange (DEX). They may soon use TornadoCash to cover their tracks completely after exchanging for the desired assets from the DEX.
