Crypto exchange AscendEX, formerly known as BitMax, has been hacked for an estimated USD 77.7 million.
The news comes from to the exchange, which acknowledged the hack, and security researchers PeckShield who have estimated its losses. According to PeckShield, the assets were taken across three blockchains. The exchange lost USD 60 million on Ethereum, USd 9.2 million on Binance Smart Chain and USD 8.5 million on Polygon (formerly Matic).
Tokens taken included large chunks of stablecoins — both tether (USDT) and USD coin (USDC) — along with larger sums of less well-known tokens like taraxa (TARA) and smaller sums of more well-known tokens like shiba inu (SHIB), aave (AAVE) and compound (COMP).
The exchange has frozen deposits and withdrawals and is working to reopen them, according to representatives. This comes just one week after crypto exchange BitMart was hacked for around USD 200 million. It lost assets on Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain, which were sent on to Ethereum mixing service Tornado Cash.
