Crypto exchange WOO X has paused transactions after discovering a hack that drained $14 million from user accounts. It remains unclear exactly how the breach happened, but security experts report that the losses were limited to individual user wallets rather than assets held by the company itself.
“The incident was quickly detected and as a precaution, withdrawals were paused and many of the withdrawals were blocked,” WOO X said in a statement. “We’ve already contacted the affected users, and all unauthorized withdrawals will be covered.”
Shortly after the breach came to light, WOO X halted withdrawals and issued a public statement to confirm that its systems had been compromised and $14 million was drained.
The breach affected nine accounts belonging to users
According to the exchange, the breach affected nine accounts, all of which belonged to users rather than the company. Initial assessments had put the total at $12 million, but later analysis showed $14 million was stolen.
The WOO X exchange is continuing its internal inquiry into how the intruders gained access and says it will share more information as it becomes available.
The exchange mentioned that several withdrawals from the affected accounts were blocked, and the affected users have been contacted. It added that the exchange will cover all user funds lost in unauthorized withdrawals.
To contain further loss, the firm is collaborating with outside security specialists and other trading platforms to trace and stop the movement of stolen funds. CoinGecko data indicates that WOO X’s trading volume jumped by 264.8 percent in the 24 hours following the hack.
Blockchain tracker Cyvers has started following the stolen assets through several blockchains, including Bitcoin, Arbitrum, Ethereum, Tron, and BNB Chain.
The firm detailed that roughly $1 million in USDT was immediately swapped for ETH, and another $7.3 million worth of tokens were moved to a fresh address. In a related move, five $BTCB coins were exchanged for BNB and transferred to a fresh wallet address.
A number of Web3 platforms got hacked recently
Chainalysis figures show that thefts and hacks on both centralized and decentralized platforms led to losses worth $2.2 billion at least during 2024, a rise of 21.07 percent compared with the previous year, driven in part by climbing cryptocurrency prices. Crypto Theft News
The past two weeks saw several major platforms hit. On 16th July, BigONE fell victim to a breach that cost it $27 million. A security update from the exchange confirmed it was due to an outside attack on its hot wallet.
Later on 19th July, Indian exchange CoinDCX reported a $44 million loss after hackers targeted an account used for liquidity operations, according to CEO Gupta.
