Mercado Bitcoin Halts Withdrawals After Suspected $40 Million Hack

The Brazilian exchange says customers lost nothing and no data leaked. A blockchain security firm flagged the outflows across about 10 networks, and no reopening date has been given.

Francis Gable

02/11/26 · 2 minNovember 2, 2026 · 2 min read

Brazilian crypto exchange Mercado Bitcoin suspended all deposits and withdrawals on Nov. 2 after what it called a security incident in one of its systems overnight.

Blockchain security firm Hypernative flagged more than $40 million in suspicious transfers out of wallets linked to the exchange, according to multiple industry reports. Mercado Bitcoin has not confirmed a figure. The exchange describes itself as Brazil's largest platform for investing in digital assets, and until the freeze lifts its customers cannot move crypto or cash off it.

Exchange Says Customers Lose Nothing

Mercado Bitcoin said it had quickly identified and contained the incident, in a statement posted on X at 9:56 a.m. Brasília time. It said there was no loss to customers and no data leak (translated from Portuguese).

The exchange called the freeze a preventive measure. Its teams are investigating, tracking the assets and coordinating with the authorities, it said.

It has not said which system was breached, how the attacker got in or how much was taken.

Funds Spread Across About 10 Networks

The largest transfers took place between 3:19 a.m. and 3:53 a.m. Brasília time, according to reports on Hypernative's analysis. The money moved across about 10 blockchains, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and Tron.

In a later update, the exchange published the receiving addresses on five networks so other platforms could help trace the funds. On Nov. 2, Etherscan showed the Ethereum address holding about $16.5 million across 11 networks, spread over nearly 200 different tokens.

The breach lands less than a week after a hack at Binance that multiple reports call the largest in crypto history. In September, Bitget paused withdrawals after a $351.6 million hot wallet hack and covered the loss from its own protection fund.

Mercado Bitcoin has promised regular updates on X. It has not yet given a loss figure or a date for withdrawals to reopen.

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