Mercado Bitcoin Starts Phased Reopening After $49M Hack, Withdrawals Stay Frozen
Key Takeaways:
- In light of the Nov. 2 security breach and hack, Mercado Bitcoin has launched an ongoing process of restoring access to its view-only accounts.
- According to Chainalysis, attackers withdrew nearly $49 million from as many as 17 blockchains.
- Withdrawals, deposits, transfers and trade continues to be suspended while the exchange conducts security checks.
User Score
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Brazilian crypto exchange Mercado Bitcoin has opened back up, though slowly, one week since it was taken offline due to a massive security breach.
Balance and investment position checks are now available, but there is still no movement and trading available. Mercado Bitcoin did not state a specific time for full access to withdrawals.
Read More: Mercado Bitcoin Freezes Deposits and Withdrawals After $40M Crypto Security Alert
Mercado Bitcoin Brings Back Account Access in Stages
On Nov. 9, Mercado Bitcoin resumed the operation of websites, and users can now see their account balances, transaction history, investments, and portfolio details.
Início da retomada gradual e consulta de saldos, com Fabrício Tota, VP de Novos Negócios do Mercado Bitcoin https://t.co/QCM5R0BIIn
— Mercado Bitcoin (@MercadoBitcoin) November 9, 2026
This exchange statement characterizes this exchange as the first phase of the recovery plan. Until individual platform modules successfully complete final security validation, crypto trading, transfers and withdrawals will be resumed.
The balances presented on the initial reopening are customer balances as of the day the platform was shut down.
Mercado Bitcoin also stated that no losses will be borne by clients as a result of the incident. The company intends to replace the affected assets with its means and financing still works out.
$49M Attack Hit Assets Across 17 Blockchains
During the Nov. 2 attack, attackers are estimated to have traded approximately $49 million in cryptocurrencies on, and between, 17 different blockchains, Chainalysis figured.
Bitcoin and Ether were the most stolen currencies, with funds also being sent to networks like Base, Tron and Polygon. Chainalysis claimed to collaborate with Mercado Bitcoin, law enforcement and industry partners to trace the funds, and from the start almost $10m was frozen.
Shortly after, Mercado Bitcoin disclosed that an estimated $11 million was frozen, and an estimated $38 million was not.
Withdrawals Remain the Key Missing Feature
The primary unresolved issue is for users how much sooner would they return their full control of assets if it comes to normalizing their situation.
At the moment, recovery of deposits, withdrawals, and trading on Mercado Bitcoin is on hold. While in the process of passing security checks, its service status page still has a stuck message indicating that deposits and withdrawals are not available.
Customers also ought to execute account-verification steps and revive credentials before transaction functions return, via official channels of communication in the Mercado Bitcoin.
The company has stated it will slowly resume payment and trading in the following stages but won’t reopen everything at once.
That’s a conservative rollout, based on the nature of the incident. Most of the customer’s assets are in cold wallets, and the breach was in online hot-wallets, said Mercado Bitcoin.
Obstacles for users include the lack of view-only access, so combining it with the possibility of withdrawals and cryptocurrency transfers will be an important step for platform recovery.
Read More: Binance $5.5B Hack Exposed: 50 EIP-7702 Nonces Opened One Hot Wallet in Minutes
This story was originally published by CryptoNinjas. Read the original article.
