Decrypt on X: "Tether Freezes Over 4.5M USDT Tied to Mercado Bitcoin Security Incident ...

X • November 2, 2026

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino announced the freeze after the Brazilian exchange said it had contained an overnight security incident with no customer losses or data leak and temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals.

4.5m usdt frozen, exchange says no customer losses... the part we don't have yet is how the attacker moved that much before the freeze triggered, idk if that timeline ever gets disclosed

The full story

This article is one source in a clustered incident — the cluster page carries the summary, timeline and every other outlet covering it.

Mercado Bitcoin Suspends Withdrawals Amid $40M Security Incident On November 2, 2026, Brazilian cryptocurrency exchange Mercado Bitcoin suspended all deposits and withdrawals following a security incident in one of its internal systems. The exchange reported that no customer funds were lost and no data breach occurred. However, blockchain security firm Hypernative estimated that over $40 million was drained from wallets associated with the exchange across multiple blockchains, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. Tether subsequently froze more than $4.5 million in USDT linked to the incident. Mercado Bitcoin is currently investigating the incident and has not disclosed specific details about how the breach occurred or the systems affected. The exchange has shared destination addresses for tracking suspicious transactions but has not provided a timeline for resuming services. The incident follows a major breach at Binance just days earlier, raising concerns about security in the cryptocurrency sector. 15 sources 53

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Mercado Bitcoin