Crypto.com pauses withdrawals due to ‘suspicious activity’

One user claims to have lost $15,000 worth of Ether.
One user claims to have lost $15,000 worth of Ether.

Major crypto wallet and platform Crypto.com has temporarily halted withdrawals after “a small number of users reporting suspicious activity on their accounts,” but all funds are reportedly safe at the moment. 

A few hours ago, Crypto.com halted withdrawals from its platform in response to several “thefts” reported by customers. Dogecoin (DOGE) founder Billy Markus noticed a suspicious transaction pattern on Etherscan that prompted the company to halt all transactions until it figures out what’s going on with its platform.

Ben Baller, a cryptocurrency enthusiast and jeweler, claimed that his account had been breached, losing 4.28 Ether (ETH) (about $15,000). He also said that he used two-factor authentication, so the alleged perpetrators must have bypassed some of Crypto.com’s security features.

Related: Crypto.com announces global partnership with Formula 1

Cointelegraph reached out to Crypto.com for more details regarding its decision to halt withdrawals but did not receive a response as of publishing time. This article will be updated pending new information.

According to Perkshield, the perpetrators are likely to be in possession of roughly $15 million worth of stolen funds, with at least 4.6K ETH. The blockchain security and data analytics firm noted that half of the stolen money is currently being laundered via Tornado Cash.

The cryptocurrency industry is no stranger to hacks, rug-pulls and protocol exploits. Earlier this month, decentralized finance security platform and bug bounty service Immunefi found that losses from hacks, scams and other malicious activities exceeded $10.2 billion dollars in 2021.

Per the report, there were 120 crypto exploits or fraudulent rug-pulls, the highest-valued hack being the Poly Network at $613 million.