Upbit suffers a major security breach, losing $36 million in Solana-based assets

South Korea’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit, suffered a security breach early Thursday, according to its operator, Dunamu Inc., which confirmed over $30 million worth of Solana-based assets were siphoned from company wallets.

In a statement written early Thursday, Dunamu CEO Oh Kyung-seok said the platform had detected unauthorized withdrawals before dawn. 

“A portion of Solana-affiliated assets worth approximately 54 billion won (US$36.9 million) was confirmed to have been transferred to an unauthorized wallet address at 4:42 a.m.,” he wrote, denoting the breach was contained once Upbit identified the abnormal activity.

Upbit wallet loses $36 million in Solana assets to an unknown hacker

According to Upbit’s issued notice, the transfer went to an unknown, external address and involved several tokens on the Solana ecosystem. 

These included Double Zero, Access Protocol, Bonk, Doodles, DRIFT, Huma Finance, lonet, Zito, Jupiter, Solaire, Magic Eden, Cat in a Dog World, MOODENG, ORCA, Fudge Penguin, Peace Network, Radium, Render Token, Solana, SonicSVM, SOON, Official Trump, USD Coin, and Wormhole.

All were moved without authorization during the single withdrawal event detected at 4:42 AM local time.

In response, Dunamu halted all digital asset deposits and withdrawals on the exchange and said the suspension would continue until a full internal review is completed.

Engineers are now conducting a comprehensive inspection of Upbit’s systems to confirm the extent of the breach and secure the platform against any further attacks.

“We have immediately and internally identified the extent of the loss resulting from the abnormal withdrawal. To prevent any damage to member assets, the entire amount will be covered by Upbit’s holdings. We would like to reiterate that this will not affect member assets,” CEO Oh wrote in his public statement.

Upbit also called on users to provide any information that could help investigators trace the stolen funds or identify the attackers. The company’s customer service team is now handling reports submitted by customers who may have seen unusual wallet activity.

Breach strikes during the Naver corporate buyout day

The hack on Upbit came on the heels of its parent company Dunamu’s corporate restructuring discussions. Local news outlet Chosun Daily reported that the Korean internet conglomerate Naver is preparing to acquire the crypto firm through a multibillion-dollar stock-swap merger.

At 9:30 AM, senior executives from Naver, Naver Financial, and Dunamu gathered at the Naver 1784 headquarters to confirm the corporate convergence, announcing they would move forward with a comprehensive share exchange between Naver Financial and Dunamu.

In attendance at the conference were several executives, including Naver Chairman Lee Hae-jin, Dunamu Chairman Song Chi-hyung, Dunamu Vice Chairman Kim Hyoung-nyon, Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon, Dunamu CEO Oh Kyoung-suk, and Naver Financial CEO Park Sang-jin.

During the press conference, Naver Chairman Lee propounded that the merger would create the infrastructure needed for Korea to compete in next-generation digital finance.

“Naver’s AI capabilities can only lead the next-generation market by synergizing with Web3,” Lee surmised, adding that Dunamu and Naver Financial must take up quick decision-making systems to outpace its global competitors in the broader Asian market.

Dunamu Chairman Song added that the group intends to build the “next-generation financial infrastructure”, which will include artificial intelligence with blockchain technology. He mentioned the merger will see Dunamu build a global framework that covers both financial activity and digital lifestyle services.

The three companies revealed plans to invest 10 trillion won over the next five years to improve the domestic ecosystem for AI and Web3 technology. The funds will support research, platform development, and digital services created through the merged structure.

Naver CEO Choi said the combined companies will operate a “full lineup” of users, data, technology, capital, and services. “We will accelerate our entry into the global Web3 market and focus on global expansion and strengthening capital market accessibility rather than restructuring governance,” she remarked.

Meanwhile, Dunamu is also preparing to develop a won-pegged stablecoin, according to Dunamu CEO Oh, who disclosed the plan to local news publications. Cryptopolitan had reported earlier in the week that Naver Financial would be launching a stablecoin wallet service next month in Busan.

Get seen where it counts. Advertise in Cryptopolitan Research and reach crypto’s sharpest investors and builders.