Turkish cryptocurrency exchange halts transactions amid hot wallet heist fears

BtcTurk has suspended all withdrawals and deposits as a precautionary measure for a possible crypto heist following an unusual activity detected in its hot wallets, The Register reports.

The Turkish cryptocurrency exchange, which has over 6 million registered users, said one of their routine checks showed a suspected hot wallet compromise of allegedly a $49 million theft spread across various tokens. PeckShield, a blockchain security and data analytics company, said the attack likely involved private key exposure, which allowed the hacker to access hot wallets. At the time of the articles writing, approximately half of the stolen funds had been converted to Ethereum to obscure tracking. According to PeckShield, recovery of the stolen funds may be low unless the exchange negotiates with the attacker. BtcTurks technical team is conducting a detailed investigation. "The vast majority of digital assets are securely stored in our cold wallets, which remain unaffected. Thanks to BtcTurk's solid financial position and security measures, customer assets are safe and secure. Trading activities on our platform continue without interruption, the company said in a statement.