Various media reports have confirmed that another crypto exchange, AscendEX, has experienced a cyber-attack on their wallet, resulting in the loss of nearly $80m. The exchange’s hot wallet vulnerability enabled cyber attackers to move its tokens hosted on popular blockchains.

A Peckshield data (an on-chain analytics firm) disclosed that almost $59m worth of tokens that AscendEX hosted on the Ethereum blockchain was moved. Some of the tokens stolen include USDC, USDT, SHIB, and TARA. An Etherscan report also stated that the exchange lost $8.8m and $9.3m worth of Polygon and BNB tokens to the cybercriminals.

Third Crypto Platform To Be Hacked In The Last 14 Days

Part of the official announcement from the exchange confirmed that the attack didn’t affect the platform’s cold wallet. However, AscendEX further stated that more investigations would be conducted regarding the incident. But it will release a plan to refund users. As of this writing, no deposits or withdrawals are allowed on the platform.

One of the top crypto exchanges, Huobi, has pledged its support for the AscendEX to deal with the unfortunate situation. As a security measure, AscendEX has placed related assets on the blocklist, with inflows on such assets to be reported to the appropriate financial regulatory agency.

Three exchanges have been hacked over the past fourteen days. Last week, Bitmart (another crypto platform with headquarters in the Cayman Islands) suffered a hack that resulted in the loss of more than $200m worth of digital assets following access to the platform’s private keys. Also, two weeks ago, another cyber hack operation was successfully carried out on BadgerDAO, with the platform losing more than $99m to that attack.

AscendEX, formerly known as Bitmax, was launched three years ago but was rebranded from its former name earlier this year. Last month, the company sought funds to enhance its development with its fundraising event generating more than $55m from various VCs led by Polychain capital.

Bitcoin Will Trade For $100K Next Year – Analyst

Over the weekend, Bloomberg intelligence (BI) issued its forecast on the digital asset market for next year. The section’s lead commodity strategist, mike McGlone, surmised that “the US will likely issue a proper regulation of the crypto industry early next year.” “the limited circulation supply of the leading cryptocurrency and the increase in supply circulation of fiat money will cause a bullishness in BTC price. Also, there should be less price correction in BTC price as it happened this year,” he further remarked.

The analyst also said their analysis shows that the leading cryptocurrency will likely become more bullish next year as it is yet to reach its peak. McGlone also forecasted that BTC would establish itself as a standard digital asset and a global collateral appeal in the same way the world is gradually becoming completely digital.

“The $50K price will become BTC’s support next year, while the $100K price range will be its crucial resistance. BTC will approach next year with a renewed bullishness amidst some pauses and corrections in between,” McGlone remarked. When asked whether BTC might be a $100K coin next year, McGlone reiterated that it is not a matter of if; it is a matter of when, especially as its demand will continue to increase even if its circulating supply is diminishing.