Turkish crypto exchange BtcTurk on Thursday froze customer withdrawals after blockchain analysts flagged that nearly $50 million had left the platform in suspicious transfers.
The exchange announced on X that it had suspended withdrawals while it conducted “detailed investigations” into the money movements. It assured users that their funds were safe.
“Assets belonging to the majority of our users are being securely held in our cold wallets,” the exchange said in its announcement. “User assets will not be affected by this situation thanks to BtcTurk’s strong financial structure.”
It added: “While our detailed investigations continue, official authorities have been informed and all necessary security measures have been taken. We thank you for your understanding and will continue to share developments with you.”
If BtcTurk was indeed hacked, it wouldn’t be the first time: Cybercriminals last year targeted the exchange and took $54 million, mostly in the form of Avalanche (AVAX), in one of 2024’s biggest hacks.
A number of blockchain security firms first flagged the suspicious movements on X. Peckshield said that nearly $48.9 million — mostly in Ethereum (ETH) — had left the exchange’s wallets. Peckshield highlighted that the movements also included transactions in AVAX, Arbitrum (ARB), and other tokens.
Even as the crypto space matures, hackers are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Last year was the worst year on record for crypto thefts, with $2.2 billion lost thanks to hackers successfully targeting centralized exchanges — not just experimental DeFi protocols.
And 2025 is already shaping up to be another bad year for crypto losses after hackers in February stole $1.4 billion in Ethereum-related assets from digital asset exchange Bybit.
