Slovakian Exchange Hacked, Loses Over $5 Million Worth of Cryptoassets

This time the target was a lesser-known Slovakian exchange called Eterbase, where early Tuesday morning, hackers gained access to the exchange’s ‘hot’ wallets. The attackers successfully compromised a few internet-connected wallets from which the exchange received deposits and sent its withdrawals. According to statements on Eterbase’s Telegram channel, the hackers raided its wallets for Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Tezos, Algorand, and TRON, making off with over $5.4 million. The exchange has reported the incident to law enforcement and says it,

will assist as much as we can in the ongoing investigations.

Eterbase also indicated that they had contacted many centralized exchanges that might be receiving the stolen funds.

We have reported the matter to law enforcement and we are cooperating closely in the investigation. We want to assure our clients that we are taking all necessary steps to ensure that the amount of their deposit does not suffer any damage as a result of a hacker attack. https://t.co/x7nAgGGeod

— ETERBASE (@ETERBASE) September 8, 2020

Based in Bratislava, Eterbase describes itself as,

the first regulation-compliant European cryptocurrency exchange.

Eterbase raised $7.2 million in a 2018 ICO, and according to CoinGecko data, it was trading about $3 million per day, at the time of the hack. As the law enforcement investigation plays out, the exchange has gone into maintenance and damage control mode. On Wednesday, Eterbase published an update that offered some reassurance to anyone concerned about the lost funds.

We want to inform our users that we have enough capital to meet all our obligations, and at the same time, we want to reassure everyone that this event won't stop our journey!https://t.co/8XwoPovHNZ pic.twitter.com/h8kur4fqxI

— ETERBASE (@ETERBASE) September 9, 2020

The most important aspect of the announcement was to confirm that the company has the money to cover any losses. And it went on to note that before the exchange would resume operations, a security audit from a “renowned global company” would be conducted. The time frame for the re-opening of the exchange remains unclear. BeInCrypto reached out to Eterbase for further comment but did not receive a response by press time.