342,000 ETH was transferred to an unknown address, and the Korean exchange Upbit was suspected of being stolen

Today, according to South Korea Electronic News, South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit stopped trading due to withdrawals of cryptocurrencies worth approximately 60 billion won, suspected of being stolen.

South Korean cryptocurrency users said they were still in a "state of confusion." Upbit acknowledged the abnormal transfer of 342,000 ETH, but did not admit that its funds were stolen.

How did it happen?

On the afternoon of November 27, a series of large-scale competitive currency transfers appeared in the Upbit account, including ETH worth about US$50 million, as well as a small amount of XLM, BTT and TRX.

Whale Alert, a cryptocurrency tracking account on Twitter, also reported a series of huge transfers from Upbit accounts to unknown accounts, including this large ETH transfer.

Janet Chun, an Upbit user from Seoul, said:

“I am unable to trade on my account and I am now reading news online about the hack. I am concerned that I may have lost funds along with hundreds of others. The company has said almost nothing, which I find particularly worrying.”

Minutes after the transaction, Upbit posted a notice on its website saying that cryptocurrency trading had been suspended while the exchange conducted “server inspections.”

Upbit is the only major South Korean exchange that has never been hacked, and its major investors include chat app giant Kakao.

Upbit issued a statement in response, but did not admit that the theft

About half an hour ago, Upbit updated the announcement, and CEO Lee Seok-woo said that the unconventional transaction only involved Ethereum. At 1:06 pm on November 27, 2019, 342,000 ETH (about 58 billion won) was transferred from Upbit's Ethereum hot wallet to an unknown wallet with the wallet address 0xa09871AEadF4994Ca12f5c0b6056BBd1d343c029.

Lee said that once the transaction is confirmed to be true, a final response will be made. In order to ensure the safety of users' property, Upbit said it has taken the following three measures:

“Upbit will cover the loss of 342,000 ETH.

All cryptocurrencies in the hot wallets have been transferred to the cold wallets.

It will take at least two weeks for Upbit to resume deposits and withdrawals.”

Joseph Young, a cryptocurrency analyst in South Korea, revealed that Upbit has not yet submitted an attack complaint to the Korea Internet and Security Agency, and Upbit did not use the word "attacked", and he believes that it is likely that it was done by an insider.

Bitcoin price at time of posting: ¥48486.16