The founder, Sheldon Xia, stated that the security vulnerability that occurred on November 2, 2026, involved a relatively small amount of funds. Preliminary investigations suggest that it may be related to the hacker attack on Mercado Bitcoin. At the time of this incident, the exchange was already facing difficulties such as suspended trading, unresolved customer withdrawal issues, and a severe shortage of personnel in its security team.

Key Points

• Bitquery Traced approximately $391,000 flowing out of wallets mainly related to BitMart.
• Xia indicates that after reorganization and employee disputes, there was a shortage of personnel at the exchange.
• Mercado Bitcoin reports that the incident involves approximately $38 million, of which about $11 million has been frozen.
• The restructuring plan for BitMart mentions that the loss in December 2021 was approximately 319.5 million US dollars.

On November 3rd, Xia posted on X that preliminary investigations by BitMart indicated that the same gang that attacked Mercado Bitcoin also targeted their wallet. Blockchain analysis revealed that the funds were transferred to addresses related to a vulnerability in this Brazilian exchange.

Bitquery It is estimated that approximately $391,000 was transferred from wallets mainly associated with BitMart. This occurred about 53 minutes before the larger-scale Mercado Bitcoin attack. Researchers traced these transactions to the same set of addresses controlled by the attackers.

According to a post by user NeyLong, funds flowed from a wallet associated with BitMart to an address that had previously received funds from Mercado Bitcoin. This suspicious connection is still considered a preliminary judgment at this time.

Xia indicates that BitMart has swiftly launched an investigation and strengthened security measures. The exchange has not yet disclosed an estimate of its own losses, nor has it explained how the attackers managed to gain access to their wallets.

Lack of staff intensifies the pressure on technical operations

After the reorganization, BitMart only retained its core team, while Xia described its security team as being "severely understaffed." He attributed the difficulties in retaining technical personnel to employee departures, online searches for personal information, threats from users, and disputes with former employees.

Xia accused the former head of market operations at the exchange, Elly, of taking retaliatory actions against BitMart. He stated that it was necessary to communicate one-on-one with key technical personnel to persuade them to stay in order to maintain the operation of the core systems.

According to Xia, the exchange continues to face multiple attacks, and the remaining staff are working hard to protect customer data and assets.

The reorganization occurred after a suspension of trading and earlier losses.

At the time of this security vulnerability, BitMart was in the process of reorganization. Previously, the company had planned to gradually shut down its exchange operations in July 2026 and suspend trading in August 2026. Alvarez and Marsal have become its financial advisors, responsible for reviewing assets, liabilities, and customer withdrawal arrangements.

BitMart has also established a user communication portal to collect customer feedback during the advisor's assessment of recovery plans. According to these plans, creditors can choose to receive compensation immediately or wait for an extended period in order to potentially recover a higher amount, depending on the final terms.

According to the reorganization plan, some of the company's financial difficulties stem from a hacker attack in December 2021, during which approximately $319.5 million in digital assets were stolen, including $164.1 million in Ethereum, $96.5 million in BNB, and $51.5 million in Bitcoin.

Management stated that declining transaction revenue, coupled with losses associated with groups that exploited futures trading incentive plans for arbitrage, further undermined the company's financial condition. BitMart The plan is to update this proposal at some point in November and submit a court application between December 2026 and January 2027.

Mercado Bitcoin Report on Asset Freezing and Customer Protection Measures

According to Mercado Bitcoin's own estimation, the vulnerability on November 2 affected assets worth approximately 38 million US dollars, of which about 11 million US dollars were frozen with the assistance of industry partners. After the vulnerability was discovered, the exchange temporarily ceased deposit and withdrawal services.

Chainalysis estimates that the stolen assets amount to approximately $49 million, and indicates that it has assisted in coordinating the freezing of nearly $10 million. In its report dated November 2nd, it stated that cooperation with exchanges, law enforcement agencies, and industry participants has been established to track the funds and prevent their movement.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino confirmed that the issuer froze over 4.5 million USDT related to this incident. Arkham Analyst Emmett Gallic stated that the attackers emptied earlier recharge addresses and sold memecoin as well as other altcoins.

Mercado Bitcoin indicates that customers will not incur any losses, and this incident did not result in any data breaches. The exchange has disclosed the target addresses that cover Ethereum-compatible networks, Bitcoin, Solana, Stellar, and Tron to assist in tracking.

This article was generated with the assistance of artificial intelligence and has been reviewed by an editorial team.