What Happened
The major BitMart security breach occurred in December 2021, not 2022. On December 4, 2021, hackers exploited a compromised private key to access two of BitMart’s hot wallets, stealing approximately $196-225 million in cryptocurrency across multiple digital assets, including over $100 million in Ethereum-based tokens and $115 million in Binance Smart Chain assets. The stolen funds were quickly laundered through decentralized exchanges and the Tornado Cash privacy mixer to obscure the hackers’ identities. BitMart halted customer withdrawals but continued allowing trading, and the exchange pledged to reimburse affected users using its own funding; however, after five weeks, users reported that compensation had not been received, raising concerns about the exchange’s liquidity. The incident subsequently became the subject of the Federal Trade Commission’s first known cryptocurrency-related investigation in 2022, which examined BitMart’s security practices, marketing claims, and customer service operations.
