Singapore-based Cryptocurrency Exchange Bitrue Hacked for $4.5 Million

The breach occurred on June 27 at 1 AM GMT+8 and was detected shortly after, leading the exchange to suspend trading activity on the platform and enable maintenance mode. This will likely last between 15-18 hours, after which Bitrue is likely to either reopen trading as usual or issue a further statement about a plan of action. Hackers appear to have exploited a flaw in the Risk Control team’s 2nd review process, which then allowed them to exfiltrate a total of 9.3 million XRP and 2.5 million ADA from the exchange hot wallet. These funds were then distributed to a variety of other exchange platforms, including Huobi and Bittrex, who have assisted in freezing accounts and preventing the movement of illicit funds. According to the release, the breach affected just 90 users, each of which had an average of $50,000 stolen from their wallets. However, Bitrue has clarified that all funds are insured, pledging to reimburse all affected users as soon as possible. Bitrue is now working with authorities in Singapore to help track down the hackers and potentially recover the stolen funds where possible. The team also released a funds tracker, allowing users to track the movement of stolen XRP. Since the hack occurred, both Ripple and Cardano have witnessed significant losses, with both cryptocurrencies down more than 10% in the last 24 hours, alongside the cryptocurrency market in general. As it stands, it doesn’t appear that the hack is directly responsible for the recent crash. This is not the first time Bitrue has been mired in controversy since earlier this year the platform was affected by a 51% attack on the Ethereum Classic (ETC) blockchain, during which the attacker tried to withdraw 13,000 ETC from the platform before being halted. The news of the Bitrue hack continues an ongoing unfortunate trend in the cryptocurrency space, with cryptocurrency exchanges of all sizes being compromised on a regular basis. Just last month, Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange was hacked for $40 million, while Slovenia-based exchange GateHub had $10 million XRP stolen earlier in June. With that said, we urge all cryptocurrency exchange users to remain vigilant and to only store what they are willing to lose on exchange platforms, particularly those that lack insurance. What do you think needs to be done to quell the persistent cryptocurrency exchange hacks? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!