$200 million stolen in Hong Kong crypto heist

Mixin, a Hong Kong-based crypto company, announced that it was halting deposits and withdrawals for users after $200 million were stolen from its network.

The company said in a post on X – the social media platform formerly known as Twitter – that the database of its cloud service provider was hacked in the early morning on Saturday (September 23rd), which led to the loss of “approximately US$200 million.”

According to the company’s website, the network’s assets total at over $1 billion. Mixin describes itself as a “decentralized network for transferring digital assets” and says it has 100,000 daily active users.

It said on X that it was temporarily suspending its users from depositing and withdrawing funds from the network following the breach, but noted that transfers would not be affected.

Mixin will reopen services when “vulnerabilities are confirmed and fixed.” The firm also said it had contacted Google and blockchain security company SlowMist to assist with the investigation.

“We will try our best to minimize the losses and deeply apologize for this,” Mixin said, assuring users it will announce a solution as to how to deal with the lost assets.

According to blockchain data platform Chainalysis, $3.8 billion worth of crypto was stolen last year, marking 2022 as the worst year on record.