The BigONE exchange was hit by a cyberattack that siphoned off $27 million in cryptocurrencies. The incident was disclosed on Wednesday (July 16), with the company issuing a statement detailing the hack and clarifying that private keys remained secure.
🎯 Fraudulent Withdrawals via Internal System Manipulation
Unlike typical cyberattacks, this breach didn’t involve direct access to wallets or stolen keys. The hacker exploited the exchange’s internal server logic, tampering with mechanisms designed to assess risks and approve withdrawals.
In essence, the attacker bypassed the need to compromise wallets directly. They altered the platform’s infrastructure parameters, which normally flag suspicious or high-volume transactions—such as large withdrawals from new or unverified accounts.
By tweaking these rules, the hacker executed repeated withdrawals from the hot wallet without triggering alerts or automatic safeguards.
This approach resembles reprogramming a security system to ignore an intruder rather than breaking into a vault.
🧾 What Was Stolen?
BigONE reported a total loss of $27,376,444.34, spread across major cryptocurrencies and smaller tokens:
- 120 BTC
- 1,272 ETH
- 2,625 SOL
- 23.3 million TRX
- Various amounts of SHIB, DOGE, SNT, UNI, CELR, XIN, and USDT
Much of the stolen funds have already been converted into highly liquid assets, with traces scattered across the Ethereum, TRON, and Solana networks.
🔒 BigONE Assures No Customer Losses
In response, BigONE swiftly implemented a containment strategy. The vulnerability enabling the silent withdrawals has been addressed, and the breach neutralized.
The exchange emphasized that no private keys were compromised and committed to fully reimbursing affected user balances, drawing on internal reserves and external liquidity if needed. Withdrawals have been temporarily halted, though most platform operations have resumed.
