- The pirates stole $ 70 million with hot phemex portfolios, which had an impact on Ethereum, Solana, XRP and Bitcoin.
- Phemex suspended withdrawals after detecting $ 29 million in blockchain suspicious outings.
- Cold wallets remain secure while Phemex provides for the restoration of USDT and USDC withdrawals.
The cryptographic exchange based in Singapore, Phemex, launched an investigation into a feat that stole approximately $ 70 million in its hot wallets. On January 23, the Blockchain Peckshield analysis company checked the violation and detailed the important unauthorized transactions exceeding $ 69.1 million on Ethereum, Solana, XRP and Bitcoin blockchains.
The pirates are suspected of being North Korean and the attack was rapid because they exchanged the Tether (USDT) and the USD Coin (USDC) stolen against Ethereum (ETH) to avoid measures to bet on blacklist.
Hack targets Ethereum, Solana, XRP and Bitcoin wallets
Peck shield revealed On January 24, the Ethereum, Solana, XRP and Phemex Bitcoin wallets were hacked to transfer funds. Ethereum alone contributed $ 20 million in stolen assets, including ETH and stable parts. Solana underwent losses of $ 17 million, while the losses of the XRP and Bitcoin were respectively $ 13 million and $ 5.3 million.
Cyres discovered that the pirates carried out 125 suspicious transactions on 11 distinct blockchain networks. The pirates quickly transformed their Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) stolen into Ethereum to prevent assets freezing while using decentralized networks for money laundering.
Immediate response and user reinsurance
The CEO of Phemex, Federico Variola, confirmed that the cold stock market portfolios were not compromised and were open to the public inspection. The withdrawal of stable parts such as the USDT and the USDC is gradually restored and the BTC withdrawal services will soon be activated.
The scholarship has interrupted all withdrawal requests while making a security audit to improve the functionality of its portfolio. Variola stressed that the security team manually processes withdrawal requests in order to avoid other risks and errors during the recovery process.
Phemex also develops a compensation plan and will provide details to its users after the survey. The scholarship has apologized and renewed its promise to maintain a reliable negotiation platform in response to the disruption.
Increasing trend of cryptographic hacks
The violation of Phemex shows how much the flights of cryptocurrencies become more and more common in the sector. According to Cyvers, the flight of cryptocurrencies occurred at a rate of more than 2.3 billion dollars per year in 2024, 40 % more than in 2023. In addition, computer hackers affiliated with northern cybercriminals -Corens mainly attack centralized exchanges to exploit the management of private keys and the structure of the portfolio.
Experts have stressed that strict safety procedures, including offline storage of private keys and live surveillance systems, are necessary tools against online dangers. The validation validation protocols out of chain work to identify the possible exploits of blockchain transactions before their implementation thanks to pre-execution simulation and transactions verification.
