The breach occurred as Upbit’s parent company, Dunamu, sealed a $10 billion acquisition deal with Naver and plans an initial public offering in the US.
South Korea’s biggest crypto exchange, Upbit, temporarily froze deposits and withdrawals on Thursday after detecting roughly $36 million in unauthorized outflows from a Solana-network hot wallet.
In an announcement, the exchange said the suspicious transfers were flagged around 4:42 am local time (7:42 pm UTC), prompting a shutdown of transfer services and a full security review of its supported crypto assets.
Upbit confirmed that the compromise was isolated to its hot wallet, highlighting that cold-wallet reserves remained untouched. The exchange moved its remaining assets into cold storage and initiated onchain freezing attempts.
