Mercado Bitcoin Hack Flows Near $49 Million Across 10 Chains
Key Facts
Mercado Bitcoin said it had detected and contained a security incident after Arkham estimated the value of assets linked to it at about $46.3 million, according to The Block on November 2. Bitquery estimated that the platform’s hot wallets sent assets worth $48.5 million across 10 blockchain networks that day, valued at the time of transfer. Chainalysis said the attacker moved assets in batches across 17 networks and estimated the stolen funds at nearly $49 million. These are estimates from different tracking firms, and The Block did not attribute Arkham’s figure to a disclosure by the platform. Mercado Bitcoin said the incident did not affect customers or lead to a breach of their data.
The figures reflect different scopes of monitored transfers. Bitquery tracked outflows from hot wallets across 10 chains, while Chainalysis described asset movements across 17 networks, including Bitcoin, Ethereum and smaller networks. Chainalysis said the assets moved in waves during the early hours of November 2, with the largest portions consisting of Bitcoin and Ethereum. The details indicate that the funds moved across more than one network, while each firm’s total differs according to what it tracks and how it values the assets. Bitquery estimated outflows at $48.5 million, compared with about $49 million for Chainalysis.
Chainalysis said a Mercado Bitcoin executive shared a list of unauthorized transactions with the firm, and its investigators began mapping the movements. The company added that it contacted law enforcement within 30 minutes of beginning its response to refer addresses that could be frozen. By morning, it said it had helped secure $4 million in stolen stablecoins. It also said it worked directly with Paxos, Anchorage Digital, Ripple, Circle and Tether. Chainalysis said referring USDT addresses and information to Tether enabled the company to act on funds linked to the incident.
Chainalysis said Tether froze more than $9 million in stolen funds after the addresses were referred to it. In a statement cited by The Block, Tether’s chief executive said the company had frozen more than 4.5 million USDT linked to the incident. The two figures have different scopes: the first describes stolen funds that Chainalysis said Tether froze after the referral, while the second is the amount of USDT linked to the incident that Tether confirmed in the coverage. These actions do not mean that all assets transferred out of the wallets have been recovered. Chainalysis is continuing to track the remaining funds, monitor their movements and look for further opportunities to intervene.
According to background provided by The Block, the incident followed a Binance hack that the coverage described as a theft of more than $6 billion on the previous Thursday. The source does not link the two incidents, and the earlier event is mentioned as separate chronological context. Chainalysis said the largest portions of assets moved in the Mercado Bitcoin incident were Bitcoin and Ethereum. It also said tracking the remaining funds and monitoring their movements were continuing, with the firm looking for other opportunities to intervene. The evidence did not specify when Mercado Bitcoin’s deposit or withdrawal services would resume.