Mercado Bitcoin, Brazil's largest cryptocurrency exchange, said it will absorb the loss from a hack of nearly $40 million that struck its systems on Monday, November 2, and that none of its customers will be out of pocket. The Mercado Bitcoin hack prompted the Brazilian crypto broker to suspend deposits and withdrawals after detecting the breach, and the company has said the financial hit is its own, not its users'.

The pledge matters because the stolen funds came from the exchange's own hot wallets on at least 10 blockchains, and because the attack landed just days after hackers took more than $6 billion from Binance in what has been described as the largest security breach in crypto history. For customers of Latin America's biggest crypto platform, the promise to absorb the loss is the difference between a contained corporate expense and a personal one.

What Mercado Bitcoin Has Said

The exchange spotted the breach in the early hours of November 2 and froze deposits and withdrawals while it investigated. In a Portuguese-language statement posted to X, the company said it had identified and contained the intrusion.

Mercado Bitcoin said no customer lost money and that no customer data was leaked. It described the suspension of transfers as a precaution and said in a follow-up post on X that it was still working to bring operations back safely, promising to update customers through official channels.

The company has not said which system was breached or how the attackers got in. It also has not given a timetable for reopening, and deposits and withdrawals remained suspended with no restart date as of Thursday.

Conflicting Loss Estimates

How much was taken depends on who is counting. Mercado Bitcoin put the figure at about $38 million in a Portuguese-language update on X, while outside analysts say the total is north of $40 million.

Hypernative, a blockchain security firm, identified suspicious transfers topping $40 million that may be connected to the breach, in an early analysis covering no fewer than 10 blockchains including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and Tron. Arkham analyst Emmett Gallic estimated losses had already exceeded $46 million and were climbing, while Chainalysis put the figure at about $49 million, according to Decrypt.

Gallic said the attacker was still moving funds as analysts watched. "Lots of old deposit addresses are being swept by the hacker currently, while they sell off memecoins and altcoins," he said, according to Cryptopolitan.

The exchange has not confirmed whether its $38 million figure includes assets that have since been frozen, and it has not said whether it expects to recover any of the remainder.

Freezing Funds From the Mercado Bitcoin Hack

Mercado Bitcoin said that by moving fast alongside the crypto community and partners such as Tether, Circle, Paxos, BRL1 and Chainalysis, it had already managed to block $11 million of the stolen assets. Tether and Circle issue the USDT and USDC stablecoins and can freeze tokens on their own networks.

Paolo Ardoino, Tether's chief executive, wrote on X that the stablecoin issuer had locked down upwards of 4.5 million USDT tied to the breach. Tether has a direct stake in the exchange, having invested $20 million in Mercado Bitcoin in July, when it said the platform served 4.5 million users.

A freeze stops tokens from moving but does not on its own give them back to the owner, which is why the burden falls on the exchange's pledge to make up the losses. The exchange also published destination wallet addresses tied to the incident across Bitcoin, Ethereum-compatible networks, Solana, Stellar and Tron, saying it shared the list so others could identify and track the funds on-chain.

Mercado Bitcoin said its teams are investigating the breach, tracing the stolen assets and working with authorities and relevant partners.

Hot Wallets and How the Attack Worked

The stolen funds came from Mercado Bitcoin's hot wallets, which an exchange keeps online so it can process withdrawals quickly. That connectivity is also what makes them a target for attackers.

Blockchain investigators observed that the unauthorized outflows looked like ordinary, properly signed transfers rather than a flaw in smart contract code being exploited, a sign that the attacker had obtained the ability to sign transactions from the exchange's operational wallets, Security Today reported. The unauthorized transfers drained hot wallets on no fewer than 10 networks, among them Ethereum, Solana, Tron, Polygon, Arbitrum, Avalanche, BNB Chain and Stellar, according to the outlet.

Days After the Record Binance Heist

The Mercado Bitcoin breach came days after attackers drained roughly $6.3 billion from Binance on October 29, in a theft the FBI has blamed on North Korea's TraderTraitor group. Binance said the attackers compromised a DevOps engineer's laptop and reached an internal service container used to push withdrawals.

Binance made the same pledge as Mercado Bitcoin. "Binance will absorb the financial impact of the stolen funds, not our users," chief executive Richard Teng wrote on X, and said roughly 95% of the affected assets had been replenished. Binance has since reopened withdrawals.

Mercado Bitcoin has not linked its incident to the Binance attack and has not said who is behind its own breach. Decrypt noted that neither exchange's promise can be checked from the outside, since exchanges do not have to show customers their books.

Sandeep Pyapali, founder and CEO of stablecoin infrastructure company Mesta, told PYMNTS that such guarantees come with conditions. "User balances are only truly safe if the exchange replaces the missing assets quickly, reopens withdrawals in an orderly way and proves its reserves again," he said.

Conclusion

Mercado Bitcoin has established three things: the breach hit its own hot wallets, no customer funds or data were lost, and the exchange will absorb a loss it puts at about $38 million while outside analysts estimate $40 million to $49 million. Partners including Tether, Circle and Chainalysis have helped freeze roughly $11 million of the stolen assets. The next concrete step is the resumption of deposits and withdrawals, which remain suspended with no announced date, alongside the continuing investigation and asset-tracing effort with authorities.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will Mercado Bitcoin customers lose money from the November 2 hack?

Mercado Bitcoin says no. Brazil's largest crypto exchange said none of its customers will be out of pocket and that it will absorb the loss itself, a figure it put at about $38 million. The stolen funds came from the exchange's own hot wallets, not customer accounts, and the company said no customer data was leaked.

How much was stolen in the Mercado Bitcoin hack?

Estimates differ. Mercado Bitcoin says about $38 million, while Hypernative, a blockchain security firm, identified suspicious transfers topping $40 million, Arkham analyst Emmett Gallic estimated at least $46 million and climbing, and Chainalysis put the figure at about $49 million. The exchange has not confirmed whether its figure includes frozen assets.

How much of the stolen Mercado Bitcoin funds has been frozen?

Mercado Bitcoin said partners including Tether, Circle, Paxos, BRL1 and Chainalysis helped it block $11 million. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said his firm froze more than 4.5 million USDT tied to the incident. A freeze stops tokens from moving but does not by itself return them to their owner.

When will Mercado Bitcoin reopen deposits and withdrawals?

The exchange has not given a date. Deposits and withdrawals were suspended on Monday, November 2 as a precaution after the breach was detected, and they remained suspended as of Thursday. Mercado Bitcoin said it was working to restore operations safely and would update customers through official channels.

Is the Mercado Bitcoin hack connected to the $6.3 billion Binance theft?

Mercado Bitcoin has not linked the two incidents and has not said who is behind its own breach. The attack came days after roughly $6.3 billion was drained from Binance on October 29, in a theft the FBI has blamed on North Korea's TraderTraitor group. Binance also pledged to absorb its losses and has reopened withdrawals.