Upbit Cryptocurrency Exchange Suffers $50 Million Loss

South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit, has informed its users about the theft of tens of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency from its wallet.

According to Lee Seok-woo, CEO of Dunamu, the company that operates Upbit, on Wednesday, November 27, at 1:06 PM, 342,000 ETH (approximately $50 million) were transferred from Upbit’s “hot” Ethereum wallet to an unknown wallet (0xa09871AEadF4994Ca12f5c0b6056BBd1d343c029).

The exchange’s management has promised to protect user assets and reimburse the stolen amount from its own funds. As a precaution, all assets have been moved from the “hot” wallet to a “cold” wallet. Lee Seok-woo emphasized that all recent large transactions were related to transferring funds from one wallet to another.

In his statement, Lee Seok-woo apologized to users for the “inconvenience,” carefully avoiding the word “hack.” The identity of those behind the attack is still unknown.

Earlier this year, Upbit and local cybersecurity company East Security reported that North Korean hackers had launched phishing attacks targeting the exchange’s users. In January of last year, South Korea’s four largest cryptocurrency exchanges—Bithumb, Upbit, Coinone, and Korbit—established a “hotline” to quickly detect and block suspicious transactions. Bithumb has already fallen victim to hackers three times.