BingX confirms ‘minor’ losses amid panic over hot wallet movements

The Singapore-based crypto exchange BingX has confirmed it suffered “minor asset loss” after the crypto community noticed a wealth of “suspicious” outflows from one of its hot wallets.

BingX chief product officer Vivien Lin said in a Sept. 20 X post that the BingX technical team “detected abnormal network access” at around 4 am Singapore time and suspected a “hacker attack on BingX’s hot wallet.”

“We immediately started our emergency plan, including the urgent transfer of assets and withdraw suspension,” Lin added. “There has been minor asset loss, but the amount is small and still being calculated.”

She said BingX stores a minimal amount of crypto in its hot wallets for withdrawals, but the exchange has temporarily suspended withdrawals while it conducts an “emergency inspection and [strengthens] wallet services,” expecting withdrawals to be restored within 24 hours.

Earlier on Sept. 20, blockchain security firm PeckShield posted on X that it observed a “suspicious significant fund outflow” from BingX totaling over $13.5 million.

EtherScan data shared by PeckShield shows an address that received millions of dollars worth of a variety of tokens across multiple blockchains from a wallet labeled “BingX 15,” one of the exchange’s hot wallets.

Web3 antivirus firm De.Fi reported on X that $20 million was estimated to be lost across multiple chains — the wallet was holding over $13.1 million worth of crypto across nine blockchain addresses at the time of writing.

The latest transactions show the address transferred some funds through the decentralized exchange Kyberswap, a common tactic used by hackers in a bid to obscure the origin of the funds.

BingX did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s requests for comment.

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.