CoinEx to resume service with new wallet system following $70M hack

Cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx is set to resume deposit and withdrawals for its users more than a week after it suffered a $70 million hack due to compromised hot wallet private keys.

In previous correspondence with Cointelegraph, the exchange outlined its priority to build and deploy a new wallet system to facilitate activities for the 211 blockchains and 737 tokens that it served before the hacking incident.

The latest statement from the exchange announces the resumption of deposit and withdrawal services of BTC, ETH, USDT, USDC and other tokens from Sept. 21.

CoinEx will update deposit addresses for the listed tokens and will generate new deposit addresses for its users.

CoinEx customers were advised not to deposit into old addresses on the platform, as this would result in assets being permanently lost. The exchange also warned of a potentially large number of pending withdrawals at the resumption of its operations:

“We ensure the new wallet system is stable, and we will gradually resume deposit and withdrawal services for more assets.”

The exchange maintains that it has implemented a 100% asset reserve policy to safeguard users against potential security threats. Previous updates following the hacking incident also stated that users assets were not affected and that CoinEx’s User Asset Security Foundation would cover any financial losses.

CoinEx has since revealed that compromised private keys for a number of its hot wallet addresses allowed hackers to withdraw some $70 million worth of cryptocurrencies. The hot wallets were used as temporary storage for user deposits, withdrawals and temporary storage.

Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic has linked the incident to North Korean “Lazarus Group” hackers, while the exchange told Cointelegraph that it was still investigating the identity of the perpetrators. CoinEx released further details of the assets that were stolen in the incident on Sept. 20.

The hackers managed to withdraw 231 BTC ($5.7 million), 4,953 ETH ($8 million), 135,600 SOL and 137 million TRON tokens. 

The hackers managed to withdraw 231 BTC ($5.7 million), 4,953 ETH ($8 million), 135,600 SOL ($2.6 million) and 137 million TRON tokens ($11 million), which were some of the highest value tokens stolen among the 18 cryptocurrencies affected by the hack.

Cointelegraph has reached out to CoinEx to ascertain if it will refund users in the event that assets were affected or are affected in the future by the event.

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