Mercado Bitcoin Reports $36.3 Million Affected in Security Incident

Mercado Bitcoin said Tuesday that a security incident affected about $36.3 million in assets and that it had blocked or frozen $12.9 million as its platform remained offline.

The Brazilian exchange said customer assets remain protected and account balances are intact. It identified the incident on Nov. 2, notified authorities and activated security and governance protocols. It will keep operations paused until it confirms service can safely resume.

The incident involved hot wallets, which hold funds online for routine deposits and withdrawals. Most assets remain in cold wallets, which are stored offline. The company said customers would not lose assets because of the incident.

Mercado Bitcoin named Tether, Circle, BRL1 and Paxos, along with blockchain analytics company Chainalysis, as partners in efforts to trace and freeze funds.

The update gave no timetable for restoring platform access. Mercado Bitcoin told users they do not need to reinstall the app or switch devices.