As per recent reports, the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit has stopped trading after the withdrawal of 60 Billion Won. Furthermore,  the exchange released a notice at 04:30 UTC today suspending crypto deposits and withdrawals due to server check. 

Crypto community suspects that the exchange has been hacked and the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) is investigating whether it has been hacked. 

Abnormal transactions were confirmed at 1 pm on the 27th. A large transaction of 342,000 ETH (equivalent to $ 49,848,273 = equivalent to ¥ 5.458 billion) was confirmed. Furthermore,  “Whale Alert”, which tracks large-scale transactions has also confirmed the same.  

Crypto analyst Joseph Young says that while the temporary suspension of deposits/ withdrawals is not irregular, no prior announcement by the exchange makes it suspicious. His tweet further mentions that around $50m worth of crypto has been withdrawn. 

He further pointed out that

 “If you were hacked, you should stop everything, but Korean Won deposits and withdrawals are still in progress at this time.” He further commented that it is still early to point out if the exchange has been hacked or not. 

No other announcements except temporary suspensions have been made. Whale Alert has further reported 17 other transactions with BitTorrent(BTT), TRON(TRX), Stellar(XLM), OmiseGo(OMG), EOS(EOS), Pundi X(NPXS) and Status(SNT). Reportedly, all the money has been sent from Upbit. 

Upbit exchange has responded and said that among the multiple whale transfers, transfer involving ETH is abnormal. Furthermore, other transactions were done only for wallet management.

Also, to protect the user’s asset security, the exchange will cover for losses incurred and support the relevant proceedings being carried out. The exchange also announced that cryptocurrencies stored in the hot wallet have been moved to cold wallets. Also, it will take almost two weeks to resume deposits and withdrawal services.

In September this year, Upbit canceled its partnership with Bittrex. While such large amounts of transactions often cause confusion in the market, they often give insights on the movements of crypto assets between exchanges. 

Will users continue to maintain the same trust in Upbit?  Let us know, what you think in the comments below!