On September 24th, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit, experienced an unexpected issue during the process of verifying tokens. This led to Upbit mistakenly confirming that a fake APT token sent by a hacker was legitimate, allowing users to deposit and trade these tokens on the platform.
Upon approval of the tokens, a bot swiftly transferred a substantial quantity (approximately 3.4 billion) of APT tokens to 380,000 addresses within Upbit. Consequently, this surge in trading volume on the exchange saw APT trading increase from 260,000 tokens on September 14th to 14.91 million tokens on September 23rd.
Upon realizing the mix-up, Upbit promptly acknowledged the system error and temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals to address the issue. Additionally, the exchange urged users who had deposited these counterfeit tokens to return them. Failure to comply with this request could result in legal actions taken by the exchange.
This incident caused the price of APT to surge more than 35% on ByBit and experience a slight increase on Binance before readjusting to around $5.5 USD at the time of writing.
This event highlights concerns regarding the tactics used by hackers and scammers in the cryptocurrency space. It also underscores the urgent need to address vulnerabilities within the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Therefore, it emphasizes the critical importance of robust security measures within the cryptocurrency industry and the necessity for vigilant oversight to protect user assets and maintain market integrity.
Upbit, in collaboration with the broader cryptocurrency community, is expected to review and reinforce their security protocols following this incident in the hope of preventing such occurrences in the future.