Crypto Options Exchange Deribit Hacked for $28 Million
The hot wallet of the largest crypto options exchange, Deribit, was hacked early this morning for over $28 million in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDC. Withdrawals were halted temporarily to defuse the situation, but no user funds were lost.
There was no definitive answer to the hack, and security researchers are investigating how the exploit occurred. Deribit released a Twitter thread clarifying the situation.
Deribit hot wallet compromised, but client funds are safe and loss is covered by company reserves
— Deribit (@DeribitExchange) November 2, 2022
Our hot wallet was hacked for USD 28m earlier this evening just before midnight UTC on 1 November 2022.
The company raised transaction confirmations and noted that cold wallets were not affected.
Deribit is an insured exchange, meaning there is a pay-out in the event of uncontrollable loss to customers. The company noted that the insurance fund was not touched and any losses would be covered by company reserves.
Deribit finished the thread by confirming operations will continue:
"Deribit remains in a financially sound position and ongoing operations will not be impacted."
Crypto exploits have been increasing at an alarming rate, with both centralized exchanges and blockchains alike being victims. For example, BNB blockchain was hacked for over $570 million recently and Binance was forced to execute a hard fork to patch the exploit.
Deribit appears to be in a better position than other exploit victims this year, but it's clear that their security needs to improve significantly; a fact the Deribit team very likely understands.
