BitMart Founder Admits Security Team ‘Severely Understaffed’ After Hack

BitMart security team — BitMart founder Sheldon Xia has confirmed a new hack on the exchange while revealing its security team is “severely understaffed” amid ongoing restructuring turmoil.

In a post on X, Xia detailed that threats against employees and alleged retaliation by former staff had made it difficult to retain technical personnel. He stated that considerable effort was required to persuade key staff to stay and maintain core systems, but the exchange continues to face numerous attacks.

While Xia described the amount stolen in Monday’s hack as small, blockchain analytics firm Bitquery identified approximately $391,000 in suspicious transfers from wallets associated with BitMart. Its investigation found the funds were sent to a wallet also implicated in the recent $46 million hack of Brazil’s Mercado Bitcoin exchange, supporting Xia’s preliminary suspicion of a connection.

The breach adds to uncertainty around BitMart, which announced in July it would end trading in August and cease operations in January 2027. Users have reported delayed withdrawals and frozen accounts, while a restructuring proposal published Monday outlined potential recovery options for users.