Bitmart is a popular cryptocurrency exchange that started in 2017. The exchange experienced a massive hack yesterday, 5 December, losing over $200 million worth of cryptocurrency in Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and Ethereum (ETH) Networks. Following the hack, Huobi and Shiba Inu community have promised to help Bitmart overcome the $200 million cryptocurrency hack.
The hack happened due to a hot wallet attack on both networks, with each wallet losing about $100 million worth of cryptocurrency in BSC and $96 million in Ethereum. It affected more than 20 altcoins, including SafeMoon, Binance Coin, and Floki. Bitmart’s hack is also among the causes of today’s, 6 December, bear market.
Bitmart: Stolen Private Key of a Hot Wallet
Sheldon Xia, CEO of Bitmart, took to Twitter to explain the causes of the hack. The CEO said that Bitmart, after completing its initial security checks, identified the main cause of the hack as a stolen private key that compromised two of Bitmart’s hot wallets, the Ethereum wallet, and the BSC wallet.
A hot wallet is a cryptocurrency wallet that is always connected to the internet, unlike a cold wallet. The wallet contains both a private key and a public key. The public key is shared publicly and used to transfer funds across the cryptocurrency community; however, the private key is like a password; access to the private key might compromise security.
Huobi and Shiba Inu Promise to Support Bitmart
Following the tweet, the cryptocurrency community openly came out in support of Bitmart. First is Huobi, the popular cryptocurrency exchange. Huobi promised to help track down the flow of assets on its exchange and report any inflow of assets related to the hack.
Shiba Inu, the popular memecoin, also declared its public support for Bitmart. The community posted on Twitter saying that despite its focus on decentralization, it would like to support Bitmart. The community said it is showing some love to Bitmart, who are already working hard to fix the security incident.
Floki Inu has also promised to conduct an AMA at 8 pm EST today, 6 December in support of Bitmart. The meme coin promised to give compensation to the affected users.
Ways to Secure a Hot Wallet
Following the hack, it is important for you to know how to keep your hot wallet secure. Some of the ways are:
- Use a cold wallet.
- Use secure internet.
- Do not use the main wallet to login to a website that appears malicious.
- Use multi-signature.
- Keep your cryptocurrency and browser software up to date.
- Be keen on any airdrop you sign up for.
- Please do not give your cryptocurrency private key, secret recovery phrases, or JSON files to any site requesting them.
- Encrypt your wallets using strong and different passwords.
Cryptocurrency Hacks
December has been a difficult month for the cryptocurrency community. There have been so many hacks, including the $120 million hack of the DeFi project Badger DAO.
Any hack affects the cryptocurrency community as a whole; it tarnishes the crypto world’s name. It is good for the crypto community to stand with the affected coins, networks, or platforms.
Cyber attacks are becoming rampant, and it is good if the cryptocurrency community helps each other track down any malicious activities. It is honorable for Huobi and Shiba Inu to stand with Bitmart during this tough time. The cryptocurrency community hopes that Bitmart will recover the assets lost.