Crypto Exchange AscendEX Latest Victim of Hack

Leading crypto trading platform AscendEX is the latest victim of a hack, losing nearly $78 million due to a hot wallet hack which was confirmed by the company on Sunday. Even as it launches an official investigation into the incident, AscendEX has reassured users that its cold wallet funds remain secure and that it will refund all users who have been affected by the hack.

Tokens transferred out by exploiting the hot wallet vulnerability include $60 million worth of tokens from the Ethereum blockchain in addition to $9.2 million from Binance Smart Chain and $8.5 million tokens from Polygon respectively. The estimated losses are yet to be confirmed by AscendEX and have so far only been calculated by data from Etherscan by blockchain security company PeckShield.

Most of the losses suffered were in stablecoins, especially USDT and USDC. The hacker also made way with large sums of lesser known crypto tokens as well as smaller sums of popular tokens such as SHIB, AAVE and COMP.

AscendEX has also confirmed that it has started coordinating with blockchain forensic firms and law enforcement agencies to explore who stole the fund and where they have been moved. The platform is also working on ways to prevent further transactions of the stolen funds on exchanges.

The news of this hack comes only days after CEX BitMart lost nearly $200 million in a hack earlier this month. BitMart’s hack saw the exchange lose tokes from Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain ecosystems, with the hackers using Ethereum mixing service Tornado Cash to make it harder to detect the trail of transactions in the stolen funds.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR See More

Aiswarya Gopan

Financial Writer & Editor - Asia & Europe Desk

Aiswarya Gopan is a financial journalist, editor, and content strategist with more than 19 years of experience across financial markets, fintech, blockchain, and technology. She has worked with leading cryptocurrency exchanges, including BingX and KuCoin, driving content strategy, market research, and editorial initiatives covering digital assets, DeFi, Web3, and global financial markets. Drawing on a background in cybersecurity, technology journalism, and market research, Aiswarya specializes in translating complex financial and blockchain developments into clear, timely insights. At FX Leaders, she covers cryptocurrency, stocks, forex, and macroeconomic developments across the Asian and European trading sessions.

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