Lykke, a centralized cryptocurrency exchange based in Switzerland, has halted withdrawals after suffering an exploit on June 4, according to a social media announcement on June 10. The exchange claimed that user funds are safe and will be recovered.
The announcement stated that both Lykke UK and Lykke Corp AG were affected by the attack. Withdrawals have been paused as a preventative measure, the exchange said.
Blockchain security researcher SomaXBT claimed to have discovered the attack on June 9 and accused the team of attempting to hide the security breach. SomaXBT provided a screenshot of a Discord message reportedly from the team, stating that the exchange was “performing an unscheduled full system maintenance!”
One Lykke user had previously complained on social media that the exchange was not working and that there were rumors of a hack. On June 10, the team apologized to affected users, stating that they possess “solid capital reserves and a diverse portfolio” that will allow them to weather any potential losses from the attack.
The exchange claimed to have discovered the IP addresses of the attacker and has hired a cybersecurity team to work on blocking and recovering the stolen assets. According to the team’s estimates, more than $22 million was lost in the attack.
This incident is the latest in a series of exploits against centralized exchanges. On April 19, blockchain researcher ZachXBT announced that Rain exchange had been hacked two weeks earlier for $14.1 million. Rain later acknowledged the attack, stating that no customer funds had been lost, as it had “plugged the hole immediately from its own reserves.”
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Source: Cointelegraph
