Hackers have once again carried out their mission. Korean digital asset exchange Upbit is currently facing a tough situation after it was reportedly hacked, leading to an unauthorized transfer of 54 billion KRW (South Korean Won) in Solana assets to unknown wallets. The amount exploited equals 36 million US dollars.
Following the breach, Upbit has suspended deposit and withdrawal activities on the platform and has frozen nearly 12 billion won worth of crypto assets. Also, to prevent further hacks, the team has moved all assets to a secure cold wallet. Additionally, they are cooperating with investigative agencies to probe into the incident.
In an official statement, Oh Kyung-seok, CEO of Dunamu, which operates Upbit, apologized for the exploitation that happened on the exchange. “We would like to reiterate that we will fully cover the outflow with Upbit’s assets to ensure no harm is done to your assets,” said the CEO.
The Upbit executives are not diving into Solana-based assets alone; they are also deeply examining the stability of the entire digital assets on the platform.
Hackers targeted Solana-ecosystem-based tokens, including memecoins like MEW and BONK, infrastructure tokens like ORCA, JUP, PYTH, RAY, and JTO, USDC stablecoin, and other projects such as DeFi and NFTs.
Previous hacks on Upbit
This is not the first time Upbit has suffered from an exploitation. The exchange has experienced a major hack back in 2019, when bad actors breached its hot wallet for 342,000 Ethereum, which was worth $50 million. Immediately after the hack, the exchange team suspended deposits and withdrawals and upgraded the platform’s wallet infrastructure.
The 2019 and the current 2025 hacks remain major exploitations for Upbit, although hackers have attempted several times to further target it in 2023. These attempts have, however, not resulted in any proven thefts.
Uproar echoes over Upbit hack
The Upbit hack has created waves of discussion on social media platforms. A crypto enthusiast wrote that the exchange’s commitment to recover user funds is commendable, but a large-scale breach severely damages trust. The hack, according to the person, signals systemic risks of centralized custody.
There are also concerns over the incident that exposed severe structural weakness or vulnerability not only in Upbit but also in Solana’s ecosystem.
Some crypto watchers are also criticizing the assumption that centralized exchanges are safer than decentralized exchanges, pointing out that Upbit is a centralized exchange, and a single malicious script led to $36 million vanishing.
However, another contrasting reality is that decentralized exchanges have also suffered breaches due to liquidity pool exploits, smart contract vulnerabilities, and bridge hacks. A few instances of decentralized exchange hacks include Curve Finance, Balancer, SushiSwap, KyberSwap, and more.
