Crypto news today: What we know about the $37M Upbit hack

A major Upbit hack pushed the biggest South Korean exchange to suspend deposits and withdrawals. This hack happened as the company completed its merger with Naver Corp, one of the biggest tech firms in the country.

Upbit hack details

In a statement, Kyungseok, the CEO of Dunamu, Upbit’s parent company, noted that the company had suffered a big exploit. In it, the company experienced an unauthorized transfer worth about $37 million. 

These transfers happened on the Solana network, one of the most active ones across multiple exchanges. Some of the top Solana assets affected by the hack were Double Zero, Access Protocol, Magic Eden, and Jupiter.

After identifying the exploit, the company conducted an immediate review and took measures. It moved the affected tokens to cold wallets and conducted on-chain freezing attempts on the affected tokens. The company then suspended withdrawals and deposits as it conducts a comprehensive review of the situation. 

Most importantly, Upbit noted that it would compensate the affected customers. The CEO said:

“Upbit will continue to prioritize the protection of member assets and strive to provide safer services through a strengthened security framework.”

Upbit merged with Naver ahead of its Nasdaq listing

The latest Upbit hack happened a day after Dunamu, the parent company, completed a merger with a unit of Naver. Naver is a giant South Korean tech company that owns a search engine, news platform, an e-commerce platform, and LINE, the most popular messaging app in the country.

Naver hopes to list Upbit in the United States, where it will join other publicly traded exchanges in the country like Bullish, Gemini, and Coinbase. Its recent transaction valued it at over $10 billion. 

Upbit has grown into one of the most popular crypto exchanges in the world. Data compiled by CoinMarketCap shows that the exchange handled over $1.98 billion in volume in the last 24 hours. 

Upbit’s IPO will happen at a time when most publicly traded crypto exchange stocks are not doing well. Coinbase stock has plunged by over 40% from the year-to-date high, while Bullish and Gemini are hovering at their all-time low.

Major crypto exchanges have suffered hacks before

The funds stolen from Upbit are substantial. However, they are tiny in a historical context. For example, WazirX, a top Indian exchange suffered a $325 million hack last year that largely took it out of business. 

BingX suffered a $50 million hack last year, while Bybit suffered a $1.5 billion hack earlier this year. Hackers drained about $1.5 billion in funds in February by exploiting its cold wallet system. This hack was associated with Lazarus Group, which is associated with North Korea.

Coinbase, the biggest crypto exchange in the United States, also suffered a hack with remediation costs worth between $180 million and $400 million. 

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