BitMart Reports November Breach as Founder Cites Staff Shortage

BitMart founder Sheldon Xia said the cryptocurrency exchange suffered a breach on November 2, describing the loss as small while acknowledging that its security team was severely understaffed. The company said it was investigating and strengthening its security, but Xia did not disclose a confirmed loss amount or identify affected systems in his public account. Blockchain analytics firm Bitquery reported about $391,000 in suspicious transfers from wallets it associated mostly with BitMart across three blockchains. The figure reflects transfers identified in its on-chain analysis; it is not a loss amount confirmed by Xia or BitMart. Bitquery also reported that a wallet involved in the transfers had been associated with the November 2 attack on Brazilian exchange Mercado Bitcoin. That overlap has prompted a possible link between the incidents, but the available wallet findings do not establish that the same attackers were responsible. BitMart’s investigation into the breach and the suspected connection is ongoing. Xia attributed staffing difficulties to restructuring and departures, saying the exchange retained a core team and had struggled to keep technical personnel. He also...