- The Lykke team admitted that they stopped taking withdrawals on June 4 following an attack that took $22 million in cryptocurrency out of their wallets.
Following an exploit on June 4, the cryptocurrency exchange Lykke has stopped accepting withdrawals, the company said on social media on June 10. The exchange assured consumers that their money is secure and will be reimbursed.
The post claims that the attack had an impact on Lykke Corp AG as well as Lykke UK.
The exchange mentioned that withdrawals have been put on hold as a precaution in another post within the same forum.
Swiss-based Lykke is a centralized cryptocurrency exchange that was established in 2015. It describes itself on its website as a no-fee cryptocurrency exchange and states that it was once a well-known forex broker.
According to SomaXBT, a blockchain security expert, the exploit was uncovered on June 9. The team was accused of trying to conceal the security breach, claiming that @lykke CTX was compromised and lost $19.5 million in cryptocurrency holdings, despite the team’s continued efforts to conceal this information. SomaXBT shared a screenshot of a supposedly team-written Discord chat in response to their own post. The notice said that an unplanned comprehensive system maintenance was being carried out by the exchange!
On June 8, a Lykke user reported on X that there were reports of a hack and that the exchange was down.
In the acknowledgement post dated June 10, the staff apologized to the impacted users. It said, “We really regret the trouble and anxiety this attack has caused all impacted clients and partners.” The exchange would be able to withstand any potential losses from the attack because of its strong capital buffers and broad portfolio, the team stated, protecting client assets.
The exchange further stated that a cybersecurity team has been engaged to focus on preventing and recovering the stolen funds, and that it has found the attacker’s IP addresses, which it would utilize for a criminal inquiry. The team estimated that the attack had cost more over $22 million.
Researchers studying blockchain technology are still finding unreported vulnerabilities that affect centralized exchanges. On April 19, on-chain investigator ZachXBT revealed that the Rain exchange had been breached for $14.1 million two weeks prior. After admitting to the attack, Rain claimed that no client money had been lost since it had quickly filled the breach with its own funds.
Disclaimer : This article was created for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. An asset’s past performance does not predict its future returns. Before making an investment, please conduct your own research, as digital assets like cryptocurrencies are highly risky and volatile financial instruments.
