Bitrue hack leads over 7% QNT dump in 4 hours Bitrue hack leads over 7% QNT dump in 4 hours
The Bitrue team suspended all withdrawals until April 18 to conduct security checks and address the problem properly.
2 min read
Updated: Apr. 14, 2023 at 12:49 pm UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
Quant (QNT) token price recorded a 7.6% fall within a matter of a few hours on April 14 due to a hack in Bitrue (BTR) exchange.
Seeing the sudden price dump, the crypto community suspected a hack at around 06:00 UTC on April 14.
The Bitrue team published an official notice at 10:00 UTC, saying that they noticed a “brief exploit in one of their hot wallets at 07:18 UTC.”
The announcement stated:
“We were able to address this matter quickly and prevented the further exploit of funds. We take this matter seriously and are currently investigating the situation. The attackers were able to withdraw assets worth approximately 23 million USD in the following currencies: ETH, QNT, GALA, SHIB, HOT, and MATIC.”
In an effort to soothe the panic, the Bitrue team also added that this wallet contained less than 5% of Bitrue’s overall funds. The announcement assured the community that all the other wallets remain secure.
However, it also stated that the team wanted to double-check all wallets to ensure complete security. To be able to do so, the Bitrue team suspended all withdrawals until April 18. Finally, the announcement noted that “all identified users who are affected by this incident will be compensated in full.”
Crypto intelligence companyย Arkhamย shared further details about the exploited wallet. According to the data Arkham posted on its Twitter account, the total amount exploited was around $24.4 million, mainly in QNT, Gala (GALA), and SHIBA INU (SHIB). The attacker swapped majority of the tokens to 8,858 Ethereum (ETH) and is currently keeping them in a 0x181 wallet. The data also reveals that the exploiter didnโt swap majority of SHIB and Holo (HOT)
The dump
According to CryptoSlate charts, the QNT token’s fall started on April 14 at 01:00 UTC at $127.28. By 05:00 UTC the same day, the QNT price fell to as low as $117.59, which marks a 7.6% decrease.
QNT is being traded for around $121.05 at the time of writing. The current price also reflects a -0.81% and -4.16% decrease for the last seven and 30 days, respectively.
Crypto Twitter saw it coming
The fact that this fall happened at a time Bitcoin (BTC) surged above the $30,000 mark led the community to question if there was a hack since the majority of altcoins have been surging with the help of BTC.
Crypto influencer CryptoNagato shared the QNT price fall on his Twitter account and said that thousands of QNT tokens had been sold within a few hours from a single wallet, which caused the price fall. He also noted that the wallet that sold thousand of QNT still held 28,000 tokens.
CryptoNagato posted this tweet at 06:13 UTC and said he expected the wallet to sell the remaining 28,000 QNT, causing a further price decrease. However, according to CryptoSlate data, the QNT price went to the upside after around 05:00 UTC on April 14.
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Author 
Zeynep Geylan
Zeynep is an academic who turned to crypto in 2018. Originating in social sciences, she is especially interested in the social impact of blockchain and cryptocurrencies and strongly believes in their transmuting power.
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