Crypto.com Reports 'Suspicious Activity' As Users Claim $15M Stolen, Exchange Says Funds Are Safe

Major crypto exchange Crypto.com paused withdrawals on Monday after users complained about suspicious activity on their accounts.

What Happened: On January 17, a number of Crypto.com users claimed that their cryptocurrency holdings held on the exchange had disappeared.

Blockchain security and data analytics firm Peckshield estimated that about $15 million worth of users’ cryptocurrency had been stolen from the exchange.

The @cryptocom loss is about $15M with at least 4.6K ETHs and half of them are currently being washed via @TornadoCash https://t.co/PUl6IrB3cp https://t.co/6SVKvk8PLf pic.twitter.com/XN9nmT857j

— PeckShield Inc. (@peckshield) January 18, 2022

According to Peckshield, the stolen funds were being laundered through Ethereum ETH/USD based privacy protocol Tornado Cash TORN/USD. The illicitly obtained 4600 ETH was sent to the coin mixer in batches of 100 ETH each.

At around 12 PM ET, Crypto.com announced that withdrawals had been restored and maintained that all user funds are safe.

Update: Withdrawal services have been restored.
All funds are safe.

It will take time to clear the backlogs. We appreciate your patience. https://t.co/ZKMfyTMebi

— Crypto.com (@cryptocom) January 17, 2022

However, at the time of publication, some users still complained that they were unable to access their accounts or withdraw cryptocurrency held on the exchange.

Price Action: As of Tuesday morning, Crypto.com’s native crypto token CRO CRO/USD was trading at $0.45, down 1% in the last 24 hours. Tornado Cash’s native token TORN was trading at $33.19, up 8.26% over the same period.

Related Link: Crypto.com Partners With Los Angeles Women's Soccer Team

Photo: Coutesy of Дмитрий Шустов on Flickr