Mercado Bitcoin halts withdrawals after $40M drained on 10 chains

A second major incident within days

The breach comes only days after a hack at Binance that was described as being worth $6.3 billion. The proximity of the two events raises fresh questions about security across centralized exchanges, which hold customer assets in hot and cold wallets and remain attractive targets for attackers.

It is not clear from the available information whether the two incidents are connected. No link between them has been established, and readers should treat them as separate events until the exchanges or investigators say otherwise.

What it means for users

For Mercado Bitcoin customers in Brazil, the immediate effect is that they cannot deposit or withdraw assets until the exchange lifts the suspension. Key unanswered points include how the losses will be covered, whether user balances are affected and when normal service will resume.

Mercado Bitcoin is one of the better-known exchanges in Latin America's largest economy, so a prolonged freeze would be closely watched by the local market. Further updates are expected to focus on the exchange's own findings, any on-chain tracing of the stolen funds and the timeline for reopening transfers.