In this photo the logo of HTX, formerly known as Huobi, is seen on the screen of a mobile device.
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Two cryptocurrency platforms linked to high-profile digital entrepreneur Justin Sun were hacked in two exploits that may have stolen approximately $115 million to date.
The targeted projects include digital currency exchange HTX, formerly known as Huobi, from which hackers drained around $30 million in cryptocurrency, the company said in a statement Wednesday.
The so-called Heco Chain blockchain bridge was also attacked, HTX confirmed.
Sun, who is an investor in HTX and linked to the Heco Chain, confirmed the facts.
A blockchain bridge connects different networks to allow the rapid exchange and movement of various cryptocurrencies. These chains have proven to be vulnerable to hacking.
Market analysis firm CryptoQuant assesses that a total of $85.4 million in cryptocurrencies has been stolen from the Heco chain. It was largely denominated in stablecoin. USDT and ether.
A large amount of HTX's native cryptocurrency, HBTC, was also stolen. HBTC price is down more than 5% from the previous 24 hours, according to data from CoinGecko.
CNBC contacted HTX for comment on Heco Chain's losses.
HTX said it is identifying the source of the attack and "has implemented urgent measures to protect user assets." The exchange has temporarily suspended deposit and withdrawal services on both HTX and Heco Chain as a โprecautionary measure.โ
The company also said it will "fully compensate any losses incurred due to the hot wallet attack." A hot wallet refers to a cryptocurrency wallet that is connected to the Internet.
Data from CryptoQuant showed that around 11,100 ether tokens have moved from the HTX exchange in the past few hours. This equates to around $23 million in cryptocurrency and is primarily the result of hackers stealing the digital coins, as well as some users trying to get their money from the exchange, a CryptoQuant spokesperson told CNBC.
CryptoQuant analyst Bradley Park said hackers are swapping their stolen assets for more liquid ether assets because the USDT and USDC stablecoins may freeze.
Tether, which issues USDT, and Circle, the company behind USDC, were not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
The HTX hack comes after another Sun-backed exchange, Poloniex, suffered a hack this month that resulted in the theft of $100 million worth of cryptocurrency.
