---
title: "Mercado Bitcoin Halts Withdrawals Following Potential $40M Breach"
description: "Brazil's largest crypto exchange suspended transactions after detecting an intrusion, while Tether froze over $4.5 million in linked tokens."
url: https://basisdesk.news/news/mercado-bitcoin-halts-withdrawals-security-incident
published: 2026-11-02T17:01:31.746Z
modified: 2026-11-02T17:01:31.746Z
section: Security & Hacks
author: Basis Desk Newsroom (AI-generated, source-verified)
sentiment: bearish
tickers: [BTC, ETH, USDT]
tags: [mercado-bitcoin, hacks, security, tether, brazil]
license: Quote with attribution to Basis Desk (basisdesk.news). Not financial advice.
---

# Mercado Bitcoin Halts Withdrawals Following Potential $40M Breach

Brazil's largest crypto exchange suspended transactions after detecting an intrusion, while Tether froze over $4.5 million in linked tokens.

## At a glance

- **What happened:** Mercado Bitcoin suspended deposits and withdrawals on Nov. 2, 2026, after identifying an early morning breach.
- **Why it matters:** Hypernative identified over $40 million in suspicious cross-chain transfers, prompting Tether to freeze 4.5 million USDT.
- **Who is affected:** Mercado Bitcoin customers attempting to deposit or withdraw assets.
- **What's next:** No next step announced.
- **Primary source:** [Brazil's Largest Exchange Mercado Bitcoin Halts Withdrawals After $40 Million Hack](https://decrypt.co/382341/mercado-bitcoin-halts-withdrawals-40-million-hack) — decrypt.co

## Key points

- Mercado Bitcoin froze deposits and withdrawals on Nov. 2 following an early morning security breach.
- Hypernative flagged over $40 million in suspicious transfers across 10 networks, though the exchange has not confirmed the total.
- Tether froze more than 4.5 million USDT connected to the flagged wallet addresses.

## Editorial remark

- **Context:** The incident follows a historic security breach on Oct. 29 that saw more than $6 billion stolen from Binance, an attack attributed by the FBI to North Korea's TraderTraitor group.
- **Impact:** Mercado Bitcoin users cannot deposit or withdraw assets while services remain paused, though the platform asserts no user balances or personal data were compromised.
- **Watch:** Mercado Bitcoin's forthcoming technical post-mortem, official loss confirmation, and the formal announcement of a timeline to restore withdrawals.

Mercado Bitcoin suspended deposits and withdrawals on Nov. 2, 2026, after detecting an unauthorized breach in one of its internal systems [1]. In an official statement published on X, the Brazilian exchange stated that it moved swiftly to contain the security incident during the early hours of the morning [1]. The firm asserted that customer funds remained secure and that no user data had been leaked during the event, framing the freeze on transactions as a preventive precaution [1]. At the time of writing, $BTC was trading at $77,334.

While the exchange has not disclosed how attackers gained access or confirmed the total scope of the theft, blockchain analytics company Hypernative identified upwards of $40 million in suspect transactions across at least 10 blockchain networks, including $ETH, Solana, Tron, and Bitcoin [1]. Mercado Bitcoin subsequently published destination addresses linked to the incident spanning EVM networks, Bitcoin, Solana, Stellar, and Tron to assist on-chain tracking efforts [1]. Tether Chief Executive Officer Paolo Ardoino confirmed on X that the issuer stepped in to freeze more than 4.5 million $USDT associated with the flagged addresses [1].

## Exchange Response and Industry Context

The breach arrives shortly after an unauthorized intrusion hit global exchange infrastructure, including the recent theft of over $6 billion from [Binance](https://basisdesk.news/news/binance-pauses-withdrawals-multibillion-dollar-exploit) on Oct. 29, 2026 [1]. Mercado Bitcoin has not linked its security breach to external incidents or identified the perpetrators responsible for the activity [1].

Platform deposits and withdrawals remain offline at Mercado Bitcoin as investigations continue [1]. The exchange has not announced an exact timeline for when normal account functionality will resume, noting that it will share progress reports via official social media channels [1].

## Sources

1. [Brazil's Largest Exchange Mercado Bitcoin Halts Withdrawals After $40 Million Hack](https://decrypt.co/382341/mercado-bitcoin-halts-withdrawals-40-million-hack) — decrypt.co, 2026-11-02

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Basis Desk Newsroom · AI-generated, source-verified · https://basisdesk.news/about/how-we-use-ai