Catalyx, a Canadian cryptocurrency trading platform, announced a security breach on Thursday. It involves the loss of crypto assets in the exchange’s custody.
Crypto Exchange Security Breach
CatalX CTS Ltd., operator of the cryptocurrency exchange, said in a press release that the security incident is suspected to involve an employee.
The events disrupted normal trading and withdrawal activities on the Canadian platform.
It said: “Due to the loss, all cryptocurrency and fiat currency withdrawals from the Platform and all trading activities on the Platform have been temporarily suspended.”
Termination order details
Based on the December 21, 2023 injunction order, the Alberta Securities Commission announced the confidentiality of the admitted evidence.
The order was granted pursuant to sections 33 and 198 of the Securities Act (Alberta) and requires a 15-day pause in the trading and purchasing of any securities or derivatives by the defendants. The order will expire on January 5, 2024, if not extended by the Commission.
Although the crypto exchange has ceased all trading and withdrawals, it is being audited by Deloitte.
Crypto Losses in 2023
However, this is not the first incident where a crypto company has lost funds due to an internal breach.
In early July 2023, reports revealed that crypto payments provider CoinsPaid suffered a loss of $37 million. The breach reportedly resulted from hackers gaining access to an employee’s computer through a misleading job offer. The employee was later tricked into installing a program that led to the theft of critical data.
In a separate incident, LastPass, a company specializing in password data encryption, faced a security breach in its cloud storage service due to employee credentials being compromised.
According to a recent De.Fi report, the decentralized finance sector faced losses totaling around $1.95 billion in 2023. Meanwhile, Ethereum emerged as the most attacked blockchain, suffering around $1.35 billion in losses in 170 violations.