Mercado Bitcoin Hack: Arkham Tracks $46 Million Held by Attacker Across 36 Addresses
Blockchain analytics firm Arkham says the attacker behind the Mercado Bitcoin exchange hack holds about $46 million across 36 addresses. A separate CoinDesk report says the attack continued for hours after the exchange said it was contained, and that the same attacker took roughly $391,000 from wallets linked to BitMart, which has suspected a connection to its own November 2 hack.
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Attacker Holdings Reported by Arkham
Arkham Intelligence says the wallet cluster behind the Mercado Bitcoin hack holds approximately $46 million, spread across 36 addresses it has grouped together. The figure comes from Arkham's tracker and has not been independently confirmed by the exchange.
Mercado Bitcoin has said that customers did not suffer losses. The company has not disclosed a total figure for what was taken from its own systems, so the $46 million number reflects what the attacker currently holds rather than a confirmed exchange loss.
The Attack Timeline
A CoinDesk report finds the attack continued for several hours after Mercado Bitcoin said it had contained the intrusion. The report describes ongoing outflows during that window, which is the central factual point of disagreement with the exchange's earlier statement that the situation was under control.
The same attacker is tied by Bitquery analysis to about $391,000 taken from wallets associated with BitMart. BitMart's founder has confirmed a hack on November 2 and suspects a link to the Mercado Bitcoin incident, but that connection rests on attribution analysis and has not been established by either exchange.
Reconciling the Figures
The two reports do not measure the same thing. Arkham's $46 million is a holdings figure for addresses it attributes to the attacker, while CoinDesk's $391,000 refers to funds drained from BitMart-linked wallets. Neither report establishes the total size of the Mercado Bitcoin theft, and the sources do not agree on how much of the $46 million originated from the exchange versus other victims.
Because the attribution in both cases is analytics-based, readers should treat the 36-address grouping and the BitMart link as working hypotheses until the exchanges or law enforcement publish confirmation.
Why It Matters
For Traders
Exchange-level security incidents can pressure related venue tokens and liquidity in the short term, so watch for official loss disclosures from Mercado Bitcoin and BitMart.
For Investors
Repeated exchange breaches in a single period raise questions about custody and incident-response standards that may shape counterparty risk assessments across the sector.
For Builders
Teams running hot wallets should review how quickly intrusions are contained, since the reported multi-hour outflow window suggests detection and freezing lagged the exchange's public statements.
This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Read the full disclaimer.
