Preliminary estimate puts Mercado Bitcoin losses above $40 million after deposits and withdrawals suspended
Key Facts
Mercado Bitcoin temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals after detecting suspicious transfers from wallets linked to the platform, while Hypernative initially estimated that the assets transferred exceeded $40 million. The platform said the suspension was a precaution to protect customers and that the incident was quickly contained. It added that customer data was not leaked and customers would not bear any losses. The estimated value of the transfers remains preliminary, as it depends on confirming that the source addresses are linked to the platform. The company did not say that all its operations had stopped; the announced measure was a temporary suspension of deposits and withdrawals.
According to the report citing Hypernative, the transfers involved wallets across at least 10 networks. The report named Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Tron, Polygon, Arbitrum, Avalanche, BNB Smart Chain and Stellar among the networks involved. This published list does not represent all 10 networks, as the report says the number is at least 10. The available material did not provide a separate breakdown of asset values on each network. The preliminary estimate also did not determine how much could ultimately be attributed to the platform's wallets.
Mercado Bitcoin said the suspension of deposits and withdrawals was intended to protect customers while it dealt with the incident. It confirmed that customers would not bear losses related to it. It also said customer data was not leaked and that the incident was quickly contained. The statement did not announce a halt to trading or other platform services. The published information did not give a date for deposits and withdrawals to resume.
The incident follows a security event whose estimated total impact Binance put at about $6.3 billion. The company said it worked with blockchain network partners to freeze the affected assets, and that about $3 billion had been frozen on-chain at the time of the Associated Press report. Binance announced on November 1 that it was resuming withdrawals in stages, while deposits continued normally, and pledged to cover all stolen funds. It said it had secured about 95% of the affected assets, compared with 90% in its previous update. It added that it would publish a review of the incident after the investigation was complete.
The Associated Press reported that Bitcoin fell 3.2% on the evening of Thursday, October 29, to below $79,000 after news of the Binance incident. As service resumed, customers withdrew $3.64 billion from the platform, equivalent to 2.1% of its assets, according to Reuters via MarketScreener. More broadly, TRM Labs research estimated that attackers stole $2.9 billion in cryptocurrency in about 150 attacks in 2025. These figures place the Mercado Bitcoin incident within a period marked by multiple thefts, without establishing a link between the events. The timing for the resumption of deposits and withdrawals at the Brazilian platform remains unspecified in the published information.