Bitopro Confirms $11M Hack, Taiwan Crypto Exchange Says it Has Replenished Lost Funds

Taiwan-based crypto exchange BitoPro has confirmed to CoinDesk that it suffered a cyberattack on an old hot wallet in May, resulting in losses of over $11 million.

The company said it immediately replenished the stolen funds and moved assets to new wallets to prevent further losses.

The breach, which occurred on May 8 during a wallet system upgrade, was first flagged by blockchain sleuth ZachXBT. He revealed that the stolen funds were laundered through decentralized exchanges and privacy protocols before being deposited into Wasabi Wallet, a popular Bitcoin mixer.

“BitoPro recently experienced a cyberattack on an old hot wallet during a wallet system upgrade,” the exchange shared with CoinDesk. “Upon detection, we quickly launched an emergency response, securing assets by moving them to new wallets and blocking the attacker.”

The company emphasized that user assets were unaffected, with all deposits, withdrawals, and trading functions continuing as normal.

“BitoPro’s virtual asset reserves are ample, and user assets remain completely unaffected,” a spokesperson added.

The exchange said it is working with a third-party cybersecurity firm to investigate the hack and will soon publish new hot wallet addresses to improve transparency. It added that the majority of its assets are held in offline cold wallets to protect against similar incidents in the future.

BitoPro, which is operated by BitoGroup, has served Taiwan’s crypto market since 2018. It supports major cryptocurrencies paired with the Taiwanese dollar and processed over $20 million in trading volume in the past 24 hours, according to data.