Suddenly! 342,000 ETH transferred to unknown address, South Korean exchange Upbit suspected of being stolen

Today, according to the Korea Electronics News report, South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit has stopped trading due to a withdrawal of about 60 billion won worth of cryptocurrency, suspected of being stolen.

South Korean cryptocurrency users say they are still "confused". Upbit acknowledged that there were abnormal transfers of 342,000 ETH, but did not acknowledge that its funds were stolen.

How did it happen?

On the afternoon of November 27, a series of large-scale competitive currency transfers appeared in the Upbit account, including ETH worth about 50 million US dollars, and a small amount of XLM, BTT, and TRX.

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Whale Alert, a cryptocurrency tracking account on Twitter, also reported a series of huge transfers from Upbit accounts to unknown accounts, including this large ETH transfer.

Janet Chun, an Upbit user from Seoul, said:

"I can't trade on my account, and I'm reading the news of hacking online now. I'm worried that I might lose money like hundreds or thousands of others. The company said almost nothing and I think this is especially worry."

A few minutes after the above transaction, Upbit issued an announcement on its website, saying that cryptocurrency trading had been suspended while the exchange was conducting a "server check."

Upbit is the only large exchange in South Korea that has never been hacked. Its main investors include chat application giant Kakao.

Upbit responded with announcement and did not acknowledge the theft

About half an hour ago, Upbit updated the announcement, and CEO Lee Seok-woo said that unconventional transactions involve only Ethereum. At 1:06 pm on November 27, 2019, 342,000 ETH (about 58 billion won) was transferred from Upbit's Ethereum hot wallet to an unknown wallet with the wallet address 0xa09871AEadF4994Ca12f5c0b6056BBd1d343c029.

Lee said that once the transaction is confirmed, a final response will be made. To ensure the safety of users' properties, Upbit said it has taken the following three measures:

"Upbit will cover a capital loss of 342,000 ETH.

All cryptocurrencies in the hot wallet have been transferred to the cold wallet.

It takes at least two weeks for Upbit to resume deposit and withdrawal. "

Joseph Young, a cryptocurrency analyst based in South Korea, revealed that Upbit has not submitted an attack complaint to the Korean Internet and Security Agency and that Upbit did not use the term "being attacked", which it believes is likely to be done by insiders.

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