Seoul: South Korea’s largest crypto exchange Upbit suffered a significant hacking attack, its operator Dunamu Inc. announced on Thursday. “A portion of Solana-affiliated assets worth approximately 54 billion won (US$36.9 million) was confirmed to have been transferred to an unauthorized wallet address at 4:42 a.m.,” stated Oh Kyung-seok, the chief executive officer of Dunamu. He assured that Upbit plans to cover the full amount lost with its assets to ensure customers’ investments remain unaffected.
According to Yonhap News Agency, a notification was issued to Upbit customers at 12:33 p.m. following a joint press conference held with Naver Corp. and Naver Financial Corp. on their merger. As part of the response to the hacking, Dunamu has temporarily suspended virtual asset deposit and withdrawal services and is undertaking a comprehensive security review to prevent future breaches.
In addition, financial authorities are reportedly preparing an on-site inspection to further assess the situation and its implications. This incident marks the largest security breach at Upbit in six years, following a 2019 security breach where 340,000 Ethereum tokens, valued at 58 billion won, were transferred to an anonymous account.