Coin Bureau, a cryptocurrency media and education platform, reported that Upbit experienced a multimillion-dollar exploit on the Solana network. This incident resulted in the loss of approximately $36.8 million before the exchange disclosed the breach, raising significant security concerns. The statement was made in a November 26 social media post on X.
According to South Korea’s largest crypto exchange, Upbit, there was an admission of a new Solana hot-wallet breach. The exchange reported that about $30 million in digital assets were siphoned off to an unknown external wallet after detecting an unauthorized transfer worth roughly 44.5 billion won. In response, Upbit halted all deposits and withdrawals and moved remaining funds into cold storage, indicating that attackers penetrated deeply before security controls were activated.
Upbit has previously encountered major security issues. On November 27, 2019, the exchange lost approximately $49 million worth of Ethereum when attackers drained one of its hot wallets and transferred the funds to an unknown address. To mitigate damage at that time, Upbit transferred remaining assets into cold storage and later replenished the stolen coins from its own balance.
Even prior to the latest Solana exploit, Upbit had been a target for hackers. According to South Korea’s Yonhap News, cited by BeInCrypto, there were 159,061 hacking attempts on the exchange in just the first half of 2023—more than double compared to the previous year and significantly higher than only 8,356 attempts in late 2020—despite a downturn in crypto markets.
Coin Bureau operates as a large independent cryptocurrency education and news platform with a mission to promote cryptocurrency mass adoption through education. The project claims it delivers high-quality content and reaches over 3 million people each month across various platforms.
