Several sets of on-chain data reveal that hackers have emptied the hot wallets of cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex, resulting in an estimated loss of $114 million.
Around 10:55 UTC, blockchain security companies PeckShield and Cyvers detected a possible hack. Twelve minutes later, Poloniex declared that the wallet on the exchange was unavailable for maintenance. Later, investor Justin Sun in Poloniex confirmed the hack in a tweet.

Breaking: Justin Sun’s Poloniex exchange (0xA9…22ba) was suspected of being stolen, and the loss of assets may exceed 60 million US dollars.

Poloniex stated that the exchange wallet has been disabled for maintenance and will be updated once the wallet is re-enabled.…

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) November 10, 2023

It looks like a number of wallets on several different blockchains have been targeted. Archam data reveals that an Ethereum wallet, currently identified as a “Poloniex hacker,” sent 357 transactions totaling $114 million in tokens from Poloniex. Additionally, a Tron blockchain wallet transferred about $42 million to different wallets.

Hackers frequently target cryptocurrency exchanges. Eight million ether (ETH) were stolen in HTX’s hack two months ago; in April, South Korean exchange Gdac lost $13 million, and in November of last year, Deribit suffered a $28 million loss from a hot-wallet hack.
The Poloniex hacker purchased $20 million worth of tron (TRX), according to on-chain data, driving up the token’s price by more than 25%.
“We are currently investigating the Poloniex hack incident,” tweeted the Sun. “Poloniex is in good financial standing and will repay all monies that were lost. Furthermore, we are investigating prospects for cooperation with other exchanges in order to expedite the retrieval of these funds.”

Sun went on to say that the hacker has seven days to accept the exchange’s 5% white hat bounty before contacting law enforcement.