Liquid, a Japan-based cryptocurrency exchange, has suffered a cyberattack, with about $97 million in cryptocurrencies estimated to have been stolen.
The intrusion was detected at roughly 7:50 AM SGT on August 19th, the company said in a blog post. The attackers compromised some of the “warm” crypto wallets managed by Liquid and managed to steal various amounts of Ethereum, Bitcoin, Stablecoins, Ripple, and other tokens.
“We are sorry to announce that #LiquidGlobal warm wallets were compromised, we are moving assets into the cold wallet. We are currently investigating and will provide regular updates. In the meantime, deposits and withdrawals will be suspended,” the company said on Twitter.
Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic said its analysis showed that around $97 million in cryptocurrencies had been stolen.
“This includes $45 million in Ethereum tokens, which are currently being converted into Ether using decentralised exchanges (DEXs) such as Uniswap and SushiSwap. This enables the hacker to avoid having these assets frozen - as is possible with many Ethereum tokens,” Elliptic said.
Liquid has said that it was tracing the movement of the stolen cryptocurrencies and working with other exchanges to freeze and recover the assets. The company has also shared the addresses used to receive the stolen funds.