Lykke Exchange Halts Operations Following $22 Million Hack

The British cryptocurrency exchange Lykke has ceased all operations due to a “security incident” resulting in a $22 million loss. 

The first to notice the potential breach was on-chain researcher SomaXBT. According to his data, the attack occurred on June 4, and two days later, a message appeared on the platform’s website announcing a halt in operations “until further notice.” 

on June 4, @lykke CTX got exploited and lost $19.5 million worth crypto assets but team still trying to hide this fact

BTC (158 btc)
bc1qt64756h9aylujm9tpk826zndegpxtngmr6eqad

ETH (2161 eth)
0x9172a72f5009ca609833819763A2722e53806443 pic.twitter.com/bT4TaQLukY

— SomaXBT (@somaxbt) June 9, 2024

Together with MetaMask developer Taylor Monahan, the researcher identified four wallets associated with the hacker in the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks.

According to on-chain data, the perpetrator quickly converted ETH into the stablecoin DAI and distributed BTC across several addresses. 

The total trading volume on Lykke over the past month was approximately $2.5 million. Its users currently cannot withdraw assets from the platform, with some reporting zero balances. 

Hey @lykke — what is going on with your exchange? Trading seems not possible, withdrawal and deposit are not possible. There are rumors that the exchange got hacked? #lykke #bitcoin #exchange #possiblehack #crypto

— sponge-investigator (@spongeinvestiga) June 8, 2024

Meanwhile, the exchange’s representatives have not provided official comments, aside from a notice on the website and an email notification about the suspension of operations. 

In a comment to DLNews, Lykke CEO Richard Olsen stated that the company is “still investigating the causes of the incident.” 

“In the meantime, you can be assured that your funds are safe. Lykke is a diversified company with strong capital reserves,” he clarified. 

Back in late May, the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin lost $305 million in a hack. The platform intends to seek financial support to compensate users. 

In June, the decentralized exchange Velocore was attacked. A hacker withdrew approximately $6.8 million in Ethereum from pools in the L2 networks Linea and zkSyncEra.