TLDR
- Mercado Bitcoin says about $38 million was lost in a hack on November 2, 2026.
- The exchange says customers will not lose assets and that it will cover the losses.
- Hot wallets on at least 10 blockchains were drained.
- Tether, Circle, Paxos, BRL1 and Chainalysis helped block $11 million.
- Deposits, withdrawals and platform access remain suspended with no reopening date.
Brazilian crypto exchange Mercado Bitcoin said on November 2, 2026, that it suffered a security incident involving about $38 million in digital assets. The company is one of the largest crypto platforms in Latin America.
Hackers drained funds from the exchange’s hot wallets on at least 10 blockchains. Mercado Bitcoin suspended deposits, withdrawals and access to its services as a precaution.
The company found the incident in the early hours of Monday morning. It said it started its internal security procedures and told the relevant authorities.
Mercado Bitcoin Promises to Cover Losses
The exchange said customers will not bear the cost of the attack. “Mercado Bitcoin guarantees that you will not suffer any loss of assets due to the security incident we identified today on our platform,” the company said.
The @MercadoBitcoin hacker has dumped $PEPE, $AAVE, $UNI, $ONDO, $ENA, and other altcoins, swapping them all for $ETH.
The hacker now holds 7,988 $ETH ($18.19M).https://t.co/3Mm9E9EShY pic.twitter.com/jdBw68zMT3
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) November 4, 2026
Security researchers first estimated the losses at more than $40 million. Mercado Bitcoin said about $38 million was lost.
Arkham Intelligence analyst Emmett Gallic estimated more than $46 million in suspicious transfers on Monday. That is at least $8 million above the exchange’s own figure. The two numbers have not been publicly reconciled, and it is unclear whether they cover the same transactions.
The exchange said no customer data was leaked. It said its teams are investigating, tracing the assets and working with authorities.
The company also warned users to trust only official communications. It told them to ignore unsolicited messages, including those from supposed support staff.
Investigation and Frozen Funds
Early analysis suggests the attackers gained control of credentials that can approve transactions. That could have exposed both hot wallets and customer deposit addresses. The exact point of entry has not been confirmed.
Blockchain data firm Bitquery said suspicious activity reached chains including Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana, Stellar, Arbitrum, Tron and Polygon. Some investigators described unauthorized movements that continued after the first wave of transfers.
Mercado Bitcoin said it worked with Tether, Circle, Paxos, BRL1 and Chainalysis and has already blocked $11 million. It said it has found other assets that can be frozen but gave no total for them.
Some stablecoins have functions that let their issuers stop transfers. Native bitcoin has no similar issuer-controlled freeze. Blocking tokens does not automatically return them to their owners.
Mercado Bitcoin was founded in 2013 and is based in São Paulo. It serves about 4.5 million to 4.8 million clients and has processed more than 215 billion reais in transactions.
SoftBank invested $200 million in the company in 2021, which valued it at about $2.1 billion. It offers spot trading, staking, tokenized private credit and payment services.
The company has not given a reopening date. It said services will resume “as soon as full safety conditions are guaranteed” and that deadlines will be shared only through its official channels.
The breach came days after hackers stole more than $6 billion from Binance, which reopened its holdings on Sunday. The FBI attributed that attack to the North Korean group TraderTraitor.
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