- Crypto exchange Phemex may have experienced a significant security breach, resulting in the theft of approximately $29 million
- The exchange has temporarily suspended withdrawals to conduct an “emergency inspection”
- Phemex has assured users that its cold wallets are safe and is developing a compensation plan for affected users
Crypto exchange Phemex may have suffered a substantial security breach, with hackers apparently stealing around $29 million in assets such as USDT, USDC, and ETH. The platform has paused withdrawals to perform an “emergency inspection,” although it has assured users that its cold wallets are safe. The loss was first reported by blockchain analytics outfit Cyvers, which reported the suspicious outflows.
Total Loss Stands at $37 Million
Cyvers reported the issue via an X post early on the morning of January 23, alerting Phemex and the public to the outflows:
🚨ALERT🚨Hey @Phemex_official, Our systems have detected multiple suspicious transactions involving your hot wallets across several chains.
Over $29M worth of digital assets have been transferred by suspicious addresses on chains including $BNB, $ETH, $OP, $POL, $BASE, and $ARB.… pic.twitter.com/1bFlRmlLUz— 🚨 Cyvers Alerts 🚨 (@CyversAlerts) January 23, 2025
Cyvers reported that over $29 million worth of assets had been transferred to suspicious addresses, with the total loss later estimated at approximately $37 million. The stolen assets included significant amounts of USDC, USDT, Ethereum, and other tokens. In response to the breach, Phemex CEO Federico Variola confirmed the attack on one of the exchange’s hot wallets but assured users that the cold wallets remained secure:
To ensure security, withdrawals have been temporarily suspended while we conduct an emergency inspection and strengthen wallet services. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. Withdrawals will be restored soon.
Phemex and the development team apologize for the disruption.… https://t.co/Gsqp2Fx7HP
— Phemex (@Phemex_official) January 23, 2025
The platform announced a temporary suspension of withdrawals to conduct an emergency inspection and enhance security measures, noting that it suspected that its hot wallets had been compromised across multiple blockchain networks, including BNB, Ethereum, Optimism, Polygon, Base, and Arbitrum.
The exchange promised that any users who had lost funds would be compensated and emphasized that trading services continued to operate normally, although whether anyone would actively send funds to an exchange that could still be compromised is unlikely.
