Mercado Bitcoin halts withdrawals after cyberattack, ~$40M flagged

Mercado Bitcoin, Brazil's largest crypto exchange, confirmed on November 2 a cyberattack on one of its systems and paused deposits and withdrawals. In an official statement posted at 7:56 AM ET, the exchange said the incident was quickly contained, with no customer losses and no data leak. It has not given a loss figure, while security firm Hypernative's preliminary estimate flags more than $40M in suspicious transfers.

Details

In its statement on X, Mercado Bitcoin says it identified and contained the incident "overnight." Deposits and withdrawals are suspended "as a preventive measure." The exchange says its teams are investigating, tracing the assets and coordinating with the relevant authorities, with regular updates promised on the same account.

Hypernative's preliminary analysis, relayed by Wu Blockchain, points to more than $40M in suspicious transfers across at least 10 chains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and Tron. The exchange has not confirmed that estimate, and the attack method is unknown. Brazilian outlets Money Times and BPMoney likewise cite independent trackers showing roughly $40M moved and note there is no official amount.

What it means for the market

The incident comes days after the Binance hack, keeping exchange security in focus. For Mercado Bitcoin users, the open questions are when withdrawals resume and whether the no-customer-loss claim holds. Until the exchange discloses details, the $40M figure should be treated as preliminary. For the live bitcoin price, see the daily brief.

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