Brazilian exchange Mercado Bitcoin suspended deposits and withdrawals Monday, Nov. 2, as a protective measure after identifying a cybersecurity incident involving one of its systems.
The exchange said it brought the incident under control soon after discovering it. It reported no customer losses or leaks of customer data, and said its teams were examining what happened, tracking asset movements and coordinating with authorities and other relevant partners.
Blockchain security firm Hypernative flagged more than $40 million in suspicious transfers across at least 10 networks from wallets it associated with Mercado Bitcoin. The exchange has not confirmed that estimate as a loss. CoinGape and BitNotícias reported that the heaviest transfer activity occurred between 1:19 and 1:53 a.m. ET (06:19-06:53 UTC) Monday.
In a later update, Mercado Bitcoin said it had provided destination addresses to help track the transfers and was taking steps to resume service safely. It did not say when deposits and withdrawals would return or explain how the incident occurred.
