AscendEX (Bitmax) Loses $78 Million to Hackers

December 12, 2021 at 11:45 PM GST updated: December 13, 2021 at 07:46 AM 1 min read News

Crypto exchange AscendEX lost about $77.7 million to hackers.
The exchange lost tokens on Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and Polygon.
Also, AscendEX token ASD rallied after briefly plunging following the news

Cryptocurrency exchange AscendEX, formerly Bitmax, is the latest crypto exchange to fall victim to hackers. The exchange recently disclosed a breach in the exchange’s hot wallet.

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22:00 UTC 12/11, We have detected a number of ERC-20, BSC, and Polygon tokens transferred from our hot wallet. Cold Wallet is NOT affected. Investigation underway. If any user’s funds are affected by the incident, they will be covered completely by AscendEX.
— AscendEX (@AscendEX_Global) December 12, 2021

Researchers at PeckShield, a security firm, claim the exchange lost about $77.7 million.

Fortunately, the hack was limited to the exchange’s hot wallet with the cold wallet remaining unaffected.

Estimated loss @AscendEX_Global: $77.7M in total ($60M on @ethereum $9.2M @BinanceChain $8.5M @0xPolygon). Here is the list of the transferred-out assets and their amounts on @ethereum pic.twitter.com/VC4DKOwu4f
— PeckShield Inc. (@peckshield) December 12, 2021

Some of the tokens taken from the exchange include Tether (USDT) and USDC stablecoins, AAVE, COMP, and popular meme token Shiba Inu. The tokens were apparently taken from three main blockchains. Namely, $60 million from Ethereum, $9.2 million from Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and $8.5 million from Polygon (Matic).

AscendEX token ASD price briefly plunged following news of the hacking. The token fell below the $0.32 support level but quickly rallied, according to CoinMarketCap.

In comparison, rival exchange BitMart lost about $200 million to hackers a week ago. Similarly, BitMart lost tokens on Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain through a hot wallet breach.

The latest flurry of crypto exchange hackings emphasizes the vulnerability presented by centralized exchanges (CEX). Although many CEX utilize cold wallets which are not connected to the internet, however, hackers are becoming more sophisticated.

Further, AscendEX has vowed to compensate users affected by the hack. In the meantime, the exchange has suspended all transactions.

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