BitMart To Compensate Shiba Inu, Saitama, Binance Coin Holders Who Became Hack Victims Using Own Funds

Cryptocurrency exchange BitMart said it will use its own funds to compensate users who were affected by a large-scale data breach in which hackers were able to steal almost $200 million worth of cryptocurrencies on the Ethereum ETH/USD and Binance Smart Chain blockchains.

What Happened: BitMart said that the security breach was mainly caused by a stolen private key that affected two of its hot wallets, while its other assets were “safe and unharmed.”

The cryptocurrency exchange, which has over 9 million users worldwide, is in talks with multiple project teams to confirm the most reasonable solutions such as token swaps.

Deposit and withdrawal functions will gradually begin on Tuesday, Dec. 7, the company added.

Separately, BitMart also announced the closing of a Series B fundraising round led by New York-based private equity firm Alexander Capital Ventures at a valuation of over $300 million.

See Also: How To Buy Ethereum (ETH)

Why It Matters: BitMart has said hackers were able to withdraw assets worth about $150 million.

Blockchain security and data analytics provider Peckshield estimates that the hackers took around $100 million in Ethereum-based coins and $96 million in coins on the Binance Smart Chain.

The theft included different types of tokens such as Shiba Inu SHIB/USD, Binance Coin and Saitama; Dogecoin DOGE/USD was not included in the list of stolen assets.

In August, a hacker stole more than $600 million worth of tokens from decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Poly Network.

About $10.5 billion worth of user funds has been stolen in cases of fraud and theft on DeFi products, it was reported last month, citing London-based firm Elliptic.

Price Action: Ethereum is up 4.7% during the last 24 hours, trading at $4,368.29 at press time.

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