BingX launches ‘ShieldX’ wallet firewall months after $52M hack

Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange BingX says it’s launching a new initiative dubbed “ShieldX” after falling victim to a hot wallet exploit that stole $52 million from the firm in September. 

In an Oct. 24 statement, the exchange said ShieldX introduces an “upgraded wallet firewall” to provide advanced protection against threat actors and safeguard users’ assets on the platform. 

Additionally, BingX said it had partnered with several unnamed security firms to implement “round-the-clock” monitoring and threat detection in a bid to protect further against potential future exploits. 

“The launch of ShieldX marks a crucial step in proactively strengthening our platform’s defenses,” said BingX’s chief product officer, Vivien Lin. 

The exchange fell victim to an attack on Sept. 20, with hackers targeting BingX’s hot wallets and making off with approximately $52 million in assets from a variety of blockchains, including Ethereum, BNB Chain, Base, and Optimism. 

BingX has shared it has now fully restored its regular operations after halting withdrawals for several assets, including Tether (USDT), Circle’s USD Coin (USDC), Bitcoin (BTC), and Ether (ETH) in response to last month’s hack. 

At the time, Lin downplayed the incident, describing the hack as only a “minor” breach and ensuring users that all affected funds would be “fully covered” by BingX’s own capital, though later investigation proved the amount stolen was more than “minor.”

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BingX also courted controversy in April after Telegram admins for the exchange admitted that the crypto exchange allowed Iranian users to evade sanctions. 

At the time, the exchange openly displayed an Iranian version of its website, and its officials had made statements in Persian in the exchange’s official Telegram group.

“The Bing X exchange has no problem with Iranian users, and it is even possible to authenticate with a national card,” read a translation of one of the statements. 

The exchange also allows swaps between the Iranian rial and Tether on its platform, which are prohibited under the United States Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) rules.

Founded in 2018, BingX facilitates over $300 million in trading volume per day, making it one of the top 20 crypto exchanges in the world, according to CoinMarketCap data. 

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