Turkish Crypto Exchange BtcTurk Falls Victim To Hack

A cyber attack has resulted in illicit access to some of BtcTurk’s hot wallets, one of Turkey’s most prominent crypto exchanges

The exchange has disclosed a certain degree of asset loss; however, they assert sufficient financial stability to surmount this obstacle.

BtcTurk Recovers $5.3 Million; However, What Is The Size of the Loss?

In a recent status update, BtcTurk disclosed that its team had identified a breach on its platform on June 22, which caused considerable concern within the crypto community.

Although the loss was not disclosed, BtcTurk stated that the hot wallets of 10 cryptocurrencies were compromised in this incident. The Turkish exchange claims that all cold wallets containing most of its assets are secure.

Richard Teng, CEO of Binance, announced a collaborative investigation effort between both exchanges regarding the incident, which resulted in the recovery of $5.3 million in misappropriated assets.

Teng stated:

Binance is assisting BtcTurk with investigations and has frozen over $5.3M in stolen funds so far. 

Our investigations & security teams work around the clock as part of our proactive efforts to protect the ecosystem from bad actors. We will provide further updates as relevant.

In the interim, ZachXBT, a distinguished on-chain investigator, has offered some valuable insights into the potential identity of the malicious actors responsible for this breach.

The address 0x327a81d0d128db8886d265be73c9fdda97194f30 is likely affiliated with the hackers, as ZachXBT has observed that they recently transmitted 1.96 million AVAX ($54.2 million) to Coinbase and THORChain. This transfer resulted in a 10% decline in the price of AVAX. ZachXBT’s predictions are predicated on BtcTurk’s market AVAX address being located on the Avalanche X-chain.

The Turkish exchange has not confirmed or denied this theory; however, all withdrawal and deposit transactions on the trading platform have been disabled. According to BtcTurk, the breach has not impacted its financial stability, and it has guaranteed the security of all users’ assets.

A Second Crypto Exchange Hack in 2024: A Growing Concern?

The cyber attack on BtcTurk is the second hack on a crypto exchange in 2024, following the security lapse that resulted in the loss of $305 million in BTC by Japanese platform DMM Bitcoin in May.

In general, the custodial nature of crypto exchanges attracts significant attention because they can possess their customers’ private keys.

Furthermore, it is well-documented that these platforms possess significantly more funds than their DeFi counterparts. Coingecko reports that Binance, the world’s largest exchange, accounts for 13 times the daily trading volume of the most prominent decentralized exchange, Uniswap, for context.

However, the necessity of ongoing and collaborative security improvements in the crypto ecosystem is underscored by all hacks or assaults.