Brazil's Mercado Bitcoin Exchange Hacked, Over $46 Million Stolen

Odaily Planet Daily reported that Brazil's Mercado Bitcoin exchange said a security incident led to more than $46 million in cryptocurrency being withdrawn from its wallets on Monday. The company paused deposits and withdrawals for several hours, but transfers to the associated address continued, followed by thousands of small ETH transfers to the same address. Security experts said the attack used standard transfers rather than exploitation of a smart contract vulnerability. As of 16:42 UTC, stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle had frozen about $6.2 million in stolen funds. Around $20 million was moved to newly created wallets; more than $20 million remains in addresses tied to Mercado Bitcoin, including all 106 BTC. A Mercado Bitcoin spokesperson said customers suffered no losses and no data was compromised. The incident is under investigation and has not yet been attributed to any organized group, Cointelegraph reported.