Mercado Bitcoin Freezes Crypto Deposits and Withdrawals After Security Incident

CoinDesk reports that Mercado Bitcoin, a leading Brazilian cryptocurrency exchange and a Ripple blockchain payments partner, has temporarily frozen crypto deposits and withdrawals after confirming a security breach. The company said the incident caused no harm to users and did not expose personal data. In an official statement, it said it identified and quickly mitigated a security issue in one of its systems that morning and stressed that no customers were harmed and no data was breached. As a precaution, it has suspended deposits and withdrawals while its security team investigates and works to identify any assets that may have been affected. Mercado Bitcoin added that it is cooperating with authorities to investigate the matter. In its latest update, the exchange said it is still working to resume normal operations safely and will keep customers informed through official channels. It also disclosed several crypto wallet addresses tied to suspicious transactions linked to the incident, aiming to help blockchain investigators and other industry participants track potentially affected assets across networks. Preliminary analysis from blockchain security firm Hypernative indicated that the incident allegedly involved more than $40 million in suspicious crypto transactions across multiple blockchain networks, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), Tron (TRX), Polygon, Arbitrum, Avalanche, BNB Smart Chain and Stellar (XLM). Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said the stablecoin issuer has frozen more than 4.5 million USDT tied to the incident. Mercado Bitcoin is known for its close collaboration with San Francisco-based blockchain company Ripple. In October 2024, Ripple announced that Mercado Bitcoin would become its first customer in Brazil to use its custodial end-to-end payment solution. The partnership is designed to support cross-border transactions between Brazil and Portugal and streamline fund management. Ripple said the two companies plan to expand the service so Mercado Bitcoin business and retail users can access international payment features.