Customers will not lose assets from the Mercado Bitcoin hack on November 2, 2026 , the Brazilian crypto exchange has promised, while access to its services remains suspended. The exchange says $11 million in assets has been blocked, but its assurance does not identify a reimbursement funding source or deadline.
Key takeaways
Mercado Bitcoin has suspended deposits, withdrawals and access to all services.
Chainalysis traced an estimated $49 million drain across 17 blockchains.
Blocking stolen assets does not automatically return them to the exchange.
Mercado Bitcoin hack prompts service shutdown
Mercado Bitcoin initially halted deposits and withdrawals as a precaution, then suspended access to all services. It said teams were investigating the incident, tracing assets and coordinating with authorities.
The exchange said it identified and quickly contained a security incident in one of its systems early on November 2. It also said the incident did not cause a data breach and published destination wallet addresses to help blockchain security firms and others track the transfers.
According to Arkham analyst Emmett Gallic , the attacker pulled funds from older deposit addresses while offloading memecoins and other altcoins.
Asset estimates differ as blocking efforts continue
Mercado Bitcoin estimated the value of affected assets at about $38 million . Blockchain investigations firm Chainalysis , which helped trace the stolen funds, estimated that approximately $49 million had been drained across 17 blockchains . Those estimates concern the same breach, not separate losses.
The exchange said $11 million had been blocked with assistance from Tether, Circle, Paxos, BRL1 and Chainalysis. It added that further assets eligible for blocking had been identified and containment work was continuing.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino separately confirmed that the issuer had frozen more than 4.5 million USDT linked to the incident.
Blocked crypto funds are not the same as recovered funds. USDT’s Ethereum contract, for example, prevents blacklisted wallets from transferring tokens out; that action does not itself send the tokens back to the exchange.
Customer assurance and conditions for reopening
Mercado Bitcoin’s promise covers customer asset losses caused by the incident. Its statement does not specify a funding source or set a reimbursement deadline.
The assurance following the Mercado Bitcoin hack also does not specify whether balances would be restored in cryptocurrency or Brazilian reais.
The exchange said services would restart only once full security conditions were met. It said it had no exact reopening timetable and would communicate the timing through its official channels.
Article produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the editorial team.
