AscendEX’s hot wallet was hacked, and several millions of dollars in Ethereum (ETH), Binance Smart Chain (BSC), and Polygon-based (POLY) assets were looted.
AscendEX, a worldwide virtual assets trading platform, has just reported a $77.7 million loss as a result of the latest hot wallet vulnerability, which allowed hackers to acquire direct exposure and then steal tokens hosted on the Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and Polygon blockchains.
Hot wallets are internet-connected cryptocurrency wallets that are connected to an encryption key and enable cryptocurrency holders to send or receive tokens.
Even though, AscendEX was quick to issue a warning to its consumers about the hack. According to a statement issued on Sunday, the hackers were unable to access the company’s cold wallet reserves despite their efforts. The company also reassured its customers that anyone whose funds were stolen in the attack need not worry. AscendEX will fully compensate all affected users and refund all losses.
AscendEX has now initiated a full examination into the scandal to determine the true scope of the hack and to decide exactly what needs to be changed to prevent similar actions in the future.
Approximate Losses from the Hack
PeckShield, a blockchain security and information analytics firm, has estimated AscendEX losses based on data available on Etherscan. According to the security firm, $60 million in cryptos were transmitted out via the Ethereum blockchain, whereas $8.5 million and $9.2 million in cryptos were robbed from Polygon and the Binance Smart Chain, respectively. That amounts to approximately $77.7 million in total.
Although AscendEX has yet to provide exact stats for the exact value of tokens snatched in the hack, widely known tokens snatched in the hack entail Tether (USDT), Shiba Inu (SHIB), and USD Coin (USDC).
The corporation also stated that it will assist affected users by covering their damages as a result of the attack.
Services have been temporarily disabled by AscendEX following the $77 million hack
Immediately after the attack, BitMart CEO Sheldon Xia instantly declared a temporary suspension on all withdrawals and deposits, asserting that they will resume gradually while further investigations are conducted.
The AscendEX cyberattack is the second in the last week to target a cryptocurrency exchange. On December 5, crypto exchange BitMart lost approximately $200 million to a similar hot wallet sacrifice over the Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain blockchains, before Shiba Inu emerged to Bitmart’s rescue.
According to analysis, the crypto hackers exchanged $100 million in tokens on the Ethereum blockchain and $96 million on Binance. BitMart has stated that users who have lost tokens as a result of the hack would be compensated.
Last Tuesday, BitMart reopened its exchange to accept deposits and withdrawals. The crypto exchange updated all deposit accounts for crypto tokens as part of a security update.
To guarantee that tokens are not placed into the wrong addresses, the business encouraged users to validate deposit addresses before making deposits. It stated that tokens deposited in the erroneous address cannot be retrieved.
