BitMart founder Sheldon Xia said on November 4, 2026 that the crypto exchange's security team is severely understaffed after restructuring, following a hack on Monday, November 2. Xia called the amount small without giving a figure, while Bitquery estimated approximately $391,000 in suspicious transfers and traced them to a wallet also implicated in the more than $46 million Mercado Bitcoin hack.
BitMart users face delayed withdrawals and frozen accounts as the exchange winds down trading and seeks court approval for a restructuring plan in December or January, while Bitquery's tracing links roughly $391,000 in suspicious transfers to the same wallet implicated in the $46 million Mercado Bitcoin hack.
Cryptocurrency exchange BitMart is operating with an understaffed security team following restructuring, founder Sheldon Xia said in a post on X on Wednesday, after the exchange confirmed a new hack that he said may be linked to the attack on Brazil's Mercado Bitcoin.
Xia said threats against employees and alleged retaliation by former staff had made it hard to retain technical personnel. "It took considerable effort and individual conversations to persuade some key technical staff to remain and maintain our core systems," he wrote. "However, we continue to face numerous attacks. Our security team is currently severely understaffed, but we are still doing everything we can to safeguard data and assets." He described the amount involved in Monday's hack as small without giving a figure.
Blockchain analytics firm Bitquery identified approximately $391,000 in suspicious transfers from wallets mostly associated with BitMart across three blockchains, according to a Wednesday investigation. Bitquery traced the funds to a wallet also implicated in the more than $46 million Mercado Bitcoin hack on Monday, Nov. 2, which Xia said supported his preliminary suspicion of a possible connection.
The breach comes during months of uncertainty over BitMart's future. The exchange said in July it would end trading on Aug. 26 and cease operations in January 2027. Users subsequently reported delayed withdrawals and frozen accounts. In August, BitMart's Chinese-language X account alleged employees had gone unpaid and demanded answers about customer funds; Xia dismissed the allegations as fabricated, and it was unclear who controlled the account at the time.
In a restructuring proposal published Monday, BitMart outlined three possible recovery options for users, including liquid asset distributions and recovery-linked tokens, with plans to seek court approval in December or January. BitMart did not respond to a request for comment by publication.
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