Online platform crypto.com suspended customer withdrawals for about 14 hours on Monday, following reports of unauthorized activity on some users' accounts, the company said.
No user funds were lost, Chief Executive Kris Marszalek said on
late on Monday. While he did not provide details of the incident, he said the company will provide a full report after completing an investigation.
"Our team has strengthened the infrastructure in response to the incident," he said.
Late on Sunday night, the Singapore-based platform said via Twitter that it had a "small number of users reporting suspicious activity on their accounts" and that it would stop all withdrawals in response.
The company was not immediately available to comment on details of the incident.
Crypto.com has become one of the largest cryptocurrency platforms, currently ranking 10th in spot trading, according to CoinMarketCap, and the company has become much more visible in recent months.
It has struck a number of sports-related marketing deals recently. In November, he signed a 20-year, $700 million deal. naming rights agreement to the Staples Center in Los Angeles, home of the NBA Lakers.
In February, he will hold a super bowl ad, it is the first one. He has already launched an ad campaign featuring actor Matt Damon.
Malicious activity is a small but persistent part of the crypto markets. Unlike credit card transactions, bitcoin and other digital asset transactions are not reversible, given the nature of the technology.
Around $3.2 billion worth of crypto was stolen in 2021, according to analytics firm Chainalysis, up 516% from the previous year. Most of that, around $2.2 billion, was stolen from decentralized platforms, which operate without a single ownership group. The amount stolen from the centralized platforms was less than 500 million dollars.
While the SEC has not announced any major actions against large cryptocurrency exchanges, the commission has threatened to sue companies that offer cryptocurrency loans. WSJ's Dion Rabouin explains why this part of the crypto market has provoked such a strong reaction. Photo: Mark Lennihan/Associated Press
write to Paul Vigna in paul.vigna@wsj.com
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It appeared in the January 19, 2022 print edition as 'Suspicious Activity Hits Crypto Platform'.