BtcTurk Exchange Suspends Withdrawals After $48M Multi-Chain Hack

Turkish crypto exchange BtcTurk has temporarily paused crypto deposits and withdrawals after detecting unusual activity involving its hot wallets.  Blockchain security platform Cyvers estimates the hacker has moved out around $48 million in crypto assets. Unusual Transfers Across Multiple Networks Cyvers reported detecting the suspicious activity roughly 30 minutes before the public alert. The transactions spanned Ethereum (ETH), Avalanche (AVAX), Arbitrum (ARB), Base (BASE), Optimism (OP), Mantle (MANTLE), and Polygon (POL), with the majority of funds consolidated into just two addresses. Blockchain data shows that the attacker has begun swapping the stolen tokens for Ethereum via MetaMask swaps. While Cyvers pegged the suspicious outflow at $48 million, other blockchain trackers report varying figures.  For instance, CertiK estimates that the damage could exceed $50 million. CertiK also identified three wallets involved in the incident: two Ethereum addresses and one Solana address.  Following the alert, BtcTurk announced that it had suspended deposits and withdrawals for cryptocurrencies. However, the exchange confirmed that trading and fiat currency transactions remain operational. In its statement, BtcTurk assured users that the majority of the exchange’s assets are in secure cold wallets and remain unaffected by the breach. Moreover, the exchange noted that it has informed the appropriate authorities regarding the incident. Not the First Major Security Incident The hack comes just over a year after a June 2024 incident, in which attackers stole $55 million from BtcTurk’s hot wallets. That breach was attributed to compromised private keys. Binance helped recover roughly 10% of the stolen funds by freezing $5.3 million linked to the attackers. The 2024 incident also had ripple effects on the broader market. It caused price drops in certain tokens after the hacker offloaded large amounts on the open market. The latest exploit highlights ongoing vulnerabilities in BtcTurk’s security practices regarding the management of users' crypto assets. The exchange says its investigation is ongoing, and withdrawals will remain suspended until further notice. Meanwhile, other crypto exchanges have also been targeted in recent times. The largest crypto heist to date occurred in March, when bad actors successfully siphoned $1.5 billion from ByBit. The event attracted global attention due to the scale and the parties involved.