BitMart founder Sheldon Xia said the cryptocurrency exchange’s security team is severely understaffed after restructuring, following a hack that may be connected to an attack on Brazil-based exchange Mercado Bitcoin.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Xia said threats against employees and alleged retaliation by former staff had made it harder to retain technical workers. He said some key personnel had agreed to stay and maintain core systems, but the exchange continued to face attacks. Xia described the amount taken in Monday’s incident as small but did not provide a figure.
Blockchain analytics firm Bitquery identified about $391,000 in suspicious transfers across three blockchains, mostly from wallets associated with BitMart. It traced the funds to a wallet also implicated in Monday’s Mercado Bitcoin hack, in which more than $46 million was stolen. The findings support Xia’s preliminary suspicion that the incidents may be connected.
The breach comes as BitMart considers its future. The exchange said in July that it planned to end trading on Aug. 26 and cease operations in January 2027. Users subsequently reported delayed withdrawals and frozen accounts. A restructuring proposal published Monday presented three possible recovery options, including distributions of liquid assets and recovery-linked tokens. BitMart said it planned to seek court approval in December or January.
BitMart had not responded to requests for comment about the restructuring, security staffing or latest breach by the time of publication.
Sources: Cointelegraph.