Upbit, South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange, froze all user deposits and withdrawals on Nov. 27 following unauthorized asset transfers totaling approximately $38.5 million. The breach affected multiple tokens operating on the Solana blockchain, prompting immediate security protocols and a comprehensive system review.
What Happened: Unauthorized Transfer
Dunamu CEO Oh Kyung-seok, who operates Upbit, disclosed that abnormal withdrawals occurred at 04:42 KST through the Solana network. The unauthorized transfers included a range of ecosystem tokens: SOL, USDC, BONK, etc.
Blockchain security firm PeckShield identified the compromise minutes before Upbit's official statement, reporting through social media platform X that the exchange's wallets had been breached.
The firm initially estimated losses at $36 million before Upbit's formal disclosure. Following detection, Upbit transferred remaining funds from affected wallets into cold storage and suspended all transaction services across its platform.
The exchange reported successfully freezing 12 billion won worth of Solaire tokens on-chain. Upbit stated it has coordinated with project teams and partner institutions to freeze additional stolen assets. The company confirmed customers will not absorb losses from the incident, pledging to cover the full amount from internal reserves while maintaining that user account balances remain unaffected.
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Why It Matters: Persistent Vulnerability
The breach highlights ongoing security challenges confronting digital asset platforms despite advancing protection measures. According to PeckShield data, September alone saw approximately 20 major exploits resulting in $127 million in losses—a 22% decrease from August's $163 million but still representing substantial industry damage. Notable incidents included UXLINK's $44 million exploit involving multi-signature wallet manipulation and SwissBorg's $41.5 million loss through a compromised Solana staking provider.
The pattern extends beyond isolated incidents.
Balancer, a decentralized finance platform, lost over $128 million to hackers on Nov. 3 in one of the quarter's most significant breaches. On-chain security provider Hacken reported that midway through this year, cryptocurrency theft already exceeded $3.1 billion, surpassing the complete 2024 annual total.
The escalating figures underscore systemic vulnerabilities within digital asset infrastructure as trading volumes and institutional participation continue expanding.
Upbit has initiated a comprehensive security audit extending beyond the Solana network, with plans to restore services incrementally following completion of system checks.
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