Crypto Exchange Deribit Loses $28M in Hot Wallet Hack, Pauses Withdrawals

Cryptocurrency options and futures exchange Deribit has been hacked, with $28 million being drained from its hot wallet.

The company tweeted that client assets have not been affected, but withdrawals have been temporarily halted as the exchange makes security checks.

"It's company procedure to keep 99% of our user funds in cold storage to limit the impact of these type of events. The hack is isolated & quarantined to our BTC, ETH and USDC hot wallets," Deribit wrote on Twitter.

Deribit hot wallet compromised, but client funds are safe and loss is covered by company reserves

Our hot wallet was hacked for USD 28m earlier this evening just before midnight UTC on 1 November 2022.

— Deribit (@DeribitExchange) November 2, 2022

Deribit becomes the latest in a long list of crypto companies to be targeted by malicious hacks in recent weeks. October was the worst month ever recorded with over $718 million being stolen in the first two weeks alone.

"Deribit remains in a financially sound position and ongoing operations will not be impacted," the company added, before saying that the loss will be covered from company reserves.

UPDATE (Nov. 2, 07:59 UTC): Adds additional details and background. Updates headline.