Mercado Bitcoin Halts Withdrawals After Roughly $40 Million Drained Across 10 Chains
Brazilian exchange Mercado Bitcoin paused deposits and withdrawals after wallets on at least 10 blockchains were emptied, with CoinDesk reporting losses of about $40 million. The exchange says customers suffered no losses and has kept withdrawals suspended while it identifies the destination wallets that received the funds.
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The Halt and the Reported Losses
Brazilian exchange Mercado Bitcoin suspended deposits and withdrawals after wallets on at least 10 blockchains were emptied, according to CoinDesk, which put the total drained at about $40 million. The pause came days after a separate, much larger security incident at Binance, which reported a $6.3 billion hack.
The exchange has said customers suffered no losses. That statement is central to how the incident is being described, since it implies the drained funds came from exchange-controlled wallets rather than user balances.
Where the Funds Went
Mercado Bitcoin's latest disclosure links the incident to destination wallets that received bitcoin, ether and other assets. The Defiant reports that the exchange has kept withdrawals suspended while it works to identify those wallets, and has not yet said when service will resume.
The two reports differ on the scale of the outflow. CoinDesk's figure of roughly $40 million is the only dollar total published across the sources reviewed here, and neither source presents an independent on-chain reconstruction of the full amount. The exchange has not, in the material available, confirmed that figure.
Context and Open Questions
The timing of the Mercado Bitcoin incident, shortly after the Binance hack, has drawn attention to exchange security across the sector, though neither source establishes a link between the two events. Whether the drained wallets were hot wallets, custodial infrastructure or a third-party service has not been stated.
Key open questions include the final loss figure, the mechanism of the breach, whether the destination wallets can be frozen or traced to a named party, and the timeline for reopening withdrawals.
Why It Matters
For Traders
Users holding balances on Mercado Bitcoin cannot withdraw until the exchange resumes service, so liquidity access is the immediate concern for any open position there.
For Investors
A second large exchange incident within days reinforces counterparty and custody risk as a structural factor when evaluating centralized platforms.
For Builders
Teams running hot wallets across many chains should review how quickly a multi-chain drain can be detected and whether withdrawal pauses can be triggered automatically.
This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Read the full disclaimer.
