The FTC Will Probe BitMart Over Hack Of December 2021

The FTC will probe BitMart over a hack that happened in December of 2021 when according to the company, it lost around $150 million dollars, and according to independent estimates, it lost somewhere close to $200 million.

The FTC Will Probe BitMart

The United States Federal Trade Commission tried to obtain information from BitMart’s operators regarding the December 2021 hack, before launching a full-on inquiry into the hack.

The company and its operators Bachi.Tech and Spread Technologies LLC declined to provide the information the FTC wanted, so the Federal Trade Commission launched an inquiry into BitMart on August 11 about a hack from December 2021.

History Of The Investigation

The FTC reportedly probed BitMart’s owners for details on how they addressed users during the December 2021 assault, according to a Bloomberg News article. The FTC was interested in finding out how the businesses handled user complaints and what statements they made regarding the safety of the customers’ assets.

The operators, however, refused to provide information, claiming that the requests were too general and that part of the data was housed abroad, which prompted the FTC probe. The regulator also stated that information on the December 2021 attack and a review of the BitMart operators’ compliance with other federal laws will be sought during the probe.

The Hack Of December 2021

On December 4, 2021, BitMart experienced a cyberattack and lost between $150 million and $196 million. The exchange announced the attack and claimed a $150 million loss in assets. But a data analytics company pegged the losses at $196 million.

The private keys to the exchange’s $ETH and $BSC hot wallets were taken, according to BitMart. The data analytics company claims that $100 million from the $ETH wallet and another $96 million from the $BSC wallets were taken. BitMart withheld information on the precise sums that were taken from the wallets.

The attackers took 20 different crypto assets, including Binance Coin, Safemoon, and Shiba Inu, totaling the whole sum. Once converted to Ethereum, they distributed the stolen money to decentralized exchanges. Finally, they cleaned them using Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer.

The second-largest security breach that occurred in 2021 was the BitMart attack.