CryptoSlate
Tether froze more than $4.5 million in USDT linked to a security breach at Brazilian exchange Mercado Bitcoin. The exchange suspended deposits and withdrawals after containing an incident in one system, while Arkham Intelligence identified about $46 million in crypto held by wallets attributed to the attacker.
Why it matters
Mercado Bitcoin said customers suffered no losses and no personal data was compromised, but it has not disclosed the attack's financial extent or whether corporate reserves were affected. The exchange published suspicious destination addresses across Bitcoin, Ethereum-compatible networks, Solana, Stellar and Tron to support tracing and recovery efforts.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino confirmed the freeze on Nov. 2. Tether is also a strategic investor in Mercado Bitcoin, having announced a $20 million investment in July. On-chain analyst Specter said efforts involving security researchers and stablecoin issuers had expanded immobilized assets to more than $9 million across nine digital assets, including USDC, PAXG and RLUSD.
Market impact
The reported freeze is a significant recovery step, but it represents only part of the crypto attributed to the attacker. Arkham identified $8.37 million in Ethereum, $8.24 million in Bitcoin and $1.76 million in PEPE among the holdings. Mercado Bitcoin has not provided a timetable for restoring deposits and withdrawals; its status page showed a partial outage.
The breach adds to a series of attacks on centralized exchanges, including reported losses at Binance, Bitget, Bybit and Phemex. Those incidents have sharpened scrutiny of exchange wallet management and transaction authorization. Investigators have not established a connection between the Mercado Bitcoin breach and the North Korean-linked operations implicated in the Bybit and Binance attacks.
Frequently asked questions
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How much crypto is reportedly held in wallets attributed to the attacker?
Arkham Intelligence identified about $46 million in crypto in wallets attributed to the attacker.
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How much of the reported stolen assets has been immobilized?
Tether froze more than $4.5 million in USDT. Analyst Specter said coordinated efforts had immobilized more than $9 million across nine digital assets.
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What did Mercado Bitcoin say about customer losses and personal data?
The exchange said customers suffered no losses and no personal data was compromised. It has not disclosed the attack's financial extent or whether corporate reserves were affected.
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Which assets were identified among the attacker-attributed holdings?
Arkham identified $8.37 million in Ethereum, $8.24 million in Bitcoin and $1.76 million in PEPE among the holdings.
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When will Mercado Bitcoin restore deposits and withdrawals?
The exchange has not provided a reopening timetable. Its status page showed a partial outage.
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