Mercado Bitcoin, Brazil's largest cryptocurrency exchange, has suffered a major security breach, with on-chain analysts putting the stolen assets at more than $46 million. The attacker still
Mercado Bitcoin, Brazil's largest cryptocurrency exchange, has suffered a major security breach, with on-chain analysts putting the stolen assets at more than $46 million. The attacker still holds a sizeable basket of altcoins, including 372.99 billion PEPE, according to Lookonchain.
Lookonchain data, as relayed by TechFlow, shows the hacker holds about $9.2 million worth of altcoins that may face selling pressure. The largest position is 372.99 billion $PEPE (@pepecoineth), valued at about $1.79 million.
The wallet also contains 12,820 $AAVE (@aave) worth about $1.61 million and 769,950 $PENDLE (@pendle_fi) worth about $1.35 million. It also holds 1.98 million $VIRTUAL (@virtuals_io), valued at about $1.15 million. Other positions include 29,830 EVA, 147,840 UNI and 2.67 million ONDO, each valued at between $1.03 million and $1.26 million.
The wallet additionally holds about $16.4 million worth of $ETH and $BTC. Odaily reported that all 106 BTC remained in addresses associated with the incident as of 16:42 UTC on Monday.
More than $9 million in stolen assets has reportedly been frozen. Other sources give slightly different figures. The Block reported that Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino confirmed the issuer had frozen more than 4.5 million USDT linked to the incident. Chainalysis has said it helped freeze nearly $10 million and put the theft at about $49 million.
The loss estimates vary by source and methodology. Mercado Bitcoin has put the assets involved at about $38 million, with $11 million blocked through work with partners including Tether, Circle, Paxos, BRL1 and Chainalysis. A freeze stops tokens from moving but does not return funds to the exchange or its customers.
The exchange has said customers suffered no losses and no data was compromised. It paused deposits and withdrawals as a precaution while it investigates with authorities, as Protos reported. Security firms found no evidence of a smart contract exploit, and CertiK's Dickson Wu described activity that moved across several smaller blockchain networks before reaching the exchange's main hot wallets, according to GN Crypto.
The incident comes days after a separate large exchange theft. The Block noted that the breach followed a reported $6 billion hack of Binance. An Arkham analyst said the attacker was selling memecoins and other altcoins while sweeping older deposit addresses, which makes the remaining token balances a point of focus for traders.
Sources
The Block: Mercado Bitcoin hit by $46 million security breachProtos: Mercado Bitcoin hack losses at $46M and growingGN Crypto: Mercado Bitcoin hack drains more than $46 million in crypto
