Bitonic Crypto Exchange Hit by Hack, Bitcoin Stolen from Client Accounts

Dutch cryptocurrency exchange Bitonic announced on Sunday, October 25, that hackers gained unauthorized access to its systems and withdrew a “small amount of Bitcoin” from three client accounts. The exact number of stolen coins was not disclosed.

Bitonic’s team discovered that the attackers were able to modify information within the exchange’s systems, including login credentials—specifically, the logins for two accounts. Exchange representatives did not rule out the possibility that the attackers viewed other clients’ personal data, although this has not yet been confirmed.

As a precaution, Bitonic promptly disconnected the affected systems and its hot wallet. Security specialists have already patched the vulnerability and restored system operations. Bitonic confirmed that its cold wallets remained unaffected. The exchange reported that it has contacted affected clients and reimbursed them for all stolen Bitcoin. Bitonic has also notified regulatory authorities about the incident.

The exchange urged clients to change their two-factor authentication (2FA) method—switching from email or SMS to a dedicated authenticator app (TOTP)—and to update their passwords if they were used across other services or were not sufficiently secure. Users are additionally advised to enable temporary Bitcoin withdrawal locks within the app and set up a personal anti-phishing phrase to identify official emails from Bitonic. The exchange team assured users that it will never ask for a password nor require Bitcoin transfers to a different address.

In September, cryptocurrency exchange Bitget suffered a hack, losing over $351 million. Bitget CEO Gracy Chen believes North Korean hackers may be behind the attack. Last year, cryptocurrency exchange Bybit was hit by a major hack, losing $1.4 billion from a single multi-signature cold wallet.