The Brazilian cryptocurrency platform BlueBenx blocked customer withdrawals, citing a hack. This was reported by Portal do Bitcoin.
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The company said it had fallen victim to an ‘extremely aggressive’ hacker attack, but did not disclose any details. The firm’s lawyer Assuramaya Kutkhumi said the alleged damage was 160 reais (~$31.54 million).
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Rumors among the platform’s clients circulate that it has fired all staff. One former employee told the publication that they were informed of the hack and layoffs had begun. In his estimation, around 30 employees were affected, though the interviewee found it hard to gauge the scale—many worked remotely.
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“I think there is a strong likelihood of a scam, because this whole hack story seems like nonsense they’ve made up,” said one BlueBenx user.
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The company bills itself as a high-yield crypto platform, offering customers regular payouts. The platform’s products imply yields of up to 66.2% per year.
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Meanwhile, according to a former BlueBenx employee, the company had no financial problems during its four years of operation. Even as clients fled en masse following the probe by Brazil’s Securities and Exchange Commission, all funds were reportedly returned in full, he noted.
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The company worked with traditional financial institutions and has been featured in Forbes.
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“Last week we faced an extremely aggressive breach of our liquidity pools in crypto networks. After attempts to resolve the issue, today we launched our security protocol with an immediate suspension of operations across BlueBenx Finance products, including withdrawals, repayments, deposits and transfers,” the publication quotes from BlueBenx to clients.
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Earlier, despite the downturn in the crypto market, access to digital assets was opened by Brazil’s largest neobank Nubank and the local Santander branch.
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