Crypto.com pauses withdrawals due to ‘suspicious activity’

Major crypto wallet and platform Crypto.com has temporarily halted withdrawals after “a small number of users reporting suspicious activity on their accounts,” but all funds are reportedly safe at the moment. 

We have a small number of users reporting suspicious activity on their accounts.

We will be pausing withdrawals shortly, as our team is investigating. All funds are safe.

— Crypto.com (@cryptocom) January 17, 2022

A few hours ago, Crypto.com halted withdrawals from its platform in response to several “thefts” reported by customers. Dogecoin (DOGE) founder Billy Markus noticed a suspicious transaction pattern on Etherscan that prompted the company to halt all transactions until it figures out what’s going on with its platform.

Internal system transfers and funds are safe? Inside job gone awry like office space? Hackers taking funds from an exchange hot wallet? ‍♂️

Never a dull day in the world of crypto.

— Shibetoshi Nakamoto (@BillyM2k) January 17, 2022

Ben Baller, a cryptocurrency enthusiast and jeweler, claimed that his account had been breached, losing 4.28 Ether (ETH) (about $15,000). He also said that he used two-factor authentication, so the alleged perpetrators must have bypassed some of Crypto.com’s security features.

I messaged yah guys hours ago about my account having 4.28ETH stolen out of nowhere and I’m also wondering how they got passed the 2FA?

— BEN BALLER™ (@BENBALLER) January 17, 2022

Related: Crypto.com announces global partnership with Formula 1

Cointelegraph reached out to Crypto.com for more details regarding its decision to halt withdrawals but did not receive a response as of publishing time. This article will be updated pending new information.

The cryptocurrency industry is no stranger to hacks, rug-pulls and protocol exploits. Earlier this month, decentralized finance security platform and bug bounty service Immunefi found that losses from hacks, scams and other malicious activities exceeded $10.2 billion dollars in 2021.

Per the report, there were 120 crypto exploits or fraudulent rug-pulls, the highest-valued hack being the Poly Network at $613 million.