Update (Sept. 20, 3:10 am UTC): This article has been updated to add a response from BingX, an X post from Vivien Lin and BingX’s notice on reported wallet maintenance.
The Singapore-based crypto exchange BingX has confirmed it suffered a “minor asset loss” after “suspicious” outflows from one of its hot wallets were noticed online.
In a Sept. 20 X post, BingX chief product officer Vivien Lin said that the BingX technical team “detected abnormal network access” at around 4:00 am Singapore time and suspected a “hacker attack on BingX’s hot wallet.”
“We immediately started our emergency plan, including the urgent transfer of assets and [withdrawal] suspension,” Lin added.
She said BingX stored a minimal amount of crypto in its hot wallets and that “there has been minor asset loss, but the amount is small and still being calculated.”
Blockchain security firm PeckShield had earlier posted on X that it observed a “suspicious significant fund outflow” from BingX totaling over $13.5 million. It later revised this estimate to $26.7 million, while analytics platform Lookonchain reported estimated losses of more than $26 million.
Lin added that the exchange temporarily suspended withdrawals while it conducted an “emergency inspection and [strengthens] wallet services.” She said withdrawals will be restored within 24 hours “at the latest.”
Source: Vivien Lin
In a separate post, Lin said BingX would “fully compensate” for the losses and that user assets were safe. She reiterated that the loss was “minimal and manageable” and wouldn’t affect its business operations.
A BingX spokesperson told Cointelegraph that “maintaining and checking our wallets is a routine step in protecting the assets. While we are still calculating the losses, we will announce the details soon.”
On Sept. 20, BingX issued a notice that it was undertaking temporary maintenance of its wallet system and that deposits and withdrawals could be delayed.
Harrison Leggio, the co-founder of crypto startup g8keep who goes by “Pop Punk” on X, criticized BingX’s disclosure of the situation in a Sept. 20 X post.
“Is it ‘wallet maintenance’ or are your wallets being drained?” he asked. “If you’re going to use a [centralized exchange], please use a real one that doesn’t play off exploits like this.”
Source: Pop Punk
EtherScan data of an address shared by PeckShield shows the address received millions of dollars worth of multiple tokens across numerous blockchains from a wallet labeled “BingX 15,” one of the exchange’s hot wallets.
Related: Indian crypto exchange WazirX struggles to recover funds 60 days after hack
At the time of writing, the wallet held over $9.5 million worth of crypto across nine blockchains, down from an earlier observed figure of $13.1 million.
Some of the latest transactions show the address transferred small amounts of crypto through the decentralized exchange Kyberswap, a common tactic used by hackers to obscure the origin of the funds.
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