Cryptocurrency Exchange UpBit Loses $52m in Attack

One of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges has been forced to suspend account withdrawals and deposits after being hit by a major online heist.

South Korea’s UpBit issued the temporary suspension notice on Wednesday followed by a message from Lee Seok-woo, CEO of company owner Dunamu.

At around 1pm local time on Wednesday, 342,000 ETH ($52) were transferred from an UpBit hot wallet to an unknown recipient, he said.

Affected users will have their losses covered by the company, which has transferred all other cryptocurrency into the company’s cold wallet for improved security.

“It is estimated that it will take at least two weeks for the deposit and withdrawal to resume. I'll tell you again when this is done,” said Lee.

UpBit’s travails are the latest in a long line of successful cyber-attacks targeting cryptocurrency exchanges over recent months.

These included US firm Coinbase, which spotted double spend attacks topping $1m, Japan-based Bitpoint, which lost $32m,  cryptocurrency exchange upbit loses attack