Deribit crypto-derivatives exchange hacked for $28 million

On November 1, unknown attackers hacked the hot wallet of the Deribit cryptocurrency derivatives exchange and withdrew $28 million. The platform’s representatives said.

Deribit hot wallet compromised, but client funds are safe and loss is covered by company reserves

Our hot wallet was hacked for USD 28m earlier this evening just before midnight UTC on 1 November 2022.

— Deribit (@DeribitExchange) November 2, 2022

“Deribit’s hot wallet has been compromised, but user funds are safe and losses are covered by the company’s reserves,” the statement said.

The exchange managed to preserve assets thanks to the separation of proprietary and client funds — 99% of client funds are stored in cold wallets.

Client assets, Fireblocks or any of the cold storage addresses are not affected. It’s company procedure to keep 99% of our user funds in cold storage to limit the impact of these type of events.

The hack is isolated & quarantined to our BTC, ETH and USDC hot wallets.

— Deribit (@DeribitExchange) November 2, 2022

Deribit temporarily suspended withdrawals, including via third-party custodians Copper, Clearloop and Cobo. Deposits already sent will be processed and credited to accounts after the required number of confirmations. The exchange urged users not to submit new withdrawal requests.

Deposits already sent will still be processed and after the required number of confirmations, they will be credited to accounts.

— Deribit (@DeribitExchange) November 2, 2022

According to PeckShield analysts, hackers stole about 9,080 ETH ($14.2 million) and about 691 BTC ($14.1 million).

#PeckShieldAlert @DeribitExchange has reported that their hot wallet was compromised, and ~$28M was stolen, including ~9,080 $ETH ($14.2M) and ~691 $BTC ($14.1M)
Exploiters’ address:https://t.co/pjI8h3YMYShttps://t.co/mDsb0qgALP https://t.co/Fw3pWSZJcQ pic.twitter.com/uNDa0I8lX0

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) November 2, 2022

In September, Deribit closed a financing round of $40 million. The platform was valued at $400 million — a figure down more than fivefold since August 2021, when the firm raised $100 million.

Read ForkLog’s Bitcoin news in our Telegram — cryptocurrency news, prices and analysis.