Largest crypto exchange in Indonesia pledges to reimburse users after $22 million theft

A major cryptocurrency exchange in Southeast Asia has paused operations after $22 million in coins was stolen this week.

Jakarta-based Indodax, which says it has more than 6 million users, told customers that it discovered a security issue on its platform and has shut down its service while it “completes maintenance to ensure the entire system is operating properly.”

The company did not respond to requests for comment about how much was lost but shared a post from another news outlet saying $22 million was lost. 

They pledged to compensate any users who may have had funds stolen, and in a follow-up statement warned customers of scammers attempting to use the situation to steal even more cryptocurrency. 

“Please be careful of fraud in the name of INDODAX! We inform you to be careful of INDODAX fund refund invitations or requests for your personal data,” they said. 

“INDODAX will run normally again as soon as the maintenance is complete.”

Several blockchain security firms said they began seeing funds flow out of the platform on September 10, including 25 Bitcoin worth about $1.4 million and $14 million worth of ethereum.

Indodax has operated since 2014 and is the latest in a string of large cryptocurrency platforms in Asia to face attack. 

At least $230 million worth of cryptocurrency was stolen from an India-based cryptocurrency platform named WazirX in July. Last week, a large platform in Singapore was also attacked, with more than $27 million stolen. 

While none of the attacks have been attributed, both the FBI and Microsoft have released multiple reports over the last month that said hackers connected to the North Korean government have made a point of going after cryptocurrency companies with a variety of different attacks. 

North Korea’s government has made hacking cryptocurrency platforms a key pillar of its revenue strategy, netting $3 billion from attacks between 2017 and 2023, according to United Nations investigators. White House officials have warned that the money is used to fund the country’s nuclear weapons program.