Mercado Bitcoin Hack: Brazil Exchange to Reopen Accounts on Nov 9

By Nodora News · 5 November 2026

Mercado Bitcoin will restore view-only account access on Nov 9 after its $49.2M hack, with withdrawals and trading still paused and $15M of stolen funds frozen.

Mercado Bitcoin, Brazil's largest cryptocurrency exchange, says customers will be able to log back in from Monday, November 9, a week after a hack on its hot wallets that the company now puts at $49.2 million in affected assets. The first phase is view-only: users will see balances, statements and investments on the website, but withdrawals, transfers and trading in Bitcoin (BTC) and every other asset stay suspended until the exchange finishes independent security testing. Mercado Bitcoin also says more than $15 million of the stolen funds has been frozen and that it will cover customer losses from its own money.

Key takeaways:

• Account access returns on the Mercado Bitcoin website from Monday, November 9, for viewing balances only.
• Withdrawals, transfers and trading will come back in later phases, with no dates given yet.
• The exchange's latest figure for assets involved in the November 2 hack is $49.2 million.
• More than $15 million of the stolen crypto has been frozen with help from industry partners.
• Mercado Bitcoin says clients will not lose money and its trading desk is preparing to buy back the missing assets.

What Mercado Bitcoin announced about reopening

In statements to Cointelegraph and Brazil's Valor Econômico on November 4, Mercado Bitcoin laid out a phased return to service. Phase one starts Monday and only covers the website. Customers will be able to check their holdings, transaction history and investment positions, which matters because the platform has been fully dark for deposits and withdrawals since the morning of November 2.

Everything that moves money comes later. The exchange said withdrawals, transfers and trading will resume "in stages", and that its systems are being put through security tests before each step is switched back on. It did not give a timetable for those later phases, so anyone hoping to move funds next week should expect to wait.

This is the first firm date the exchange has offered since the breach. Earlier updates only said services were paused "as a precaution" with no restart date.

How big the Mercado Bitcoin hack was

The incident hit Mercado Bitcoin's hot wallets, the internet-connected wallets an exchange uses to process day-to-day deposits and withdrawals. Attackers sent funds out with ordinary transfers rather than a smart contract exploit, which means they had signing access of some kind. The exchange still hasn't said how that access was obtained.

Estimates of the loss have climbed as investigators traced the funds:

• Hypernative, a blockchain security firm, first flagged more than $40 million in suspicious transfers across at least 10 networks.
• Arkham traced at least $46 million, and Chainalysis put the figure near $49 million.
• Mercado Bitcoin's own number started at about $38 million and now stands at $49.2 million in affected assets.
• Frozen funds have grown from about $4.5 million in USDT blocked by Tether on day one to more than $15 million now.

We covered the first days of the incident in Mercado Bitcoin Hack Grows to $46M as Attacker Sweeps Deposit Wallets and the exchange's earlier refund promise in Mercado Bitcoin Hack: Brazil Exchange Vows to Cover All User Losses.

Who pays for the losses

Mercado Bitcoin repeated that customers will not bear the cost. It says affected assets will be replaced with company funds and that its trading desk is "preparing to begin the necessary repurchases in domestic and international markets". In plain terms, the exchange plans to buy back the coins that were stolen so customer balances stay whole.

To reassure users about its finances, the company pointed to a strong cash position, including a $20 million investment from Tether aimed at operational expansion. Freezes of stablecoins such as USDT and USDC help, but a freeze only stops tokens from moving; it doesn't send them back, so the buyback is what actually restores balances.

Why it matters for Brazil and crypto security

Mercado Bitcoin is one of Latin America's best-known crypto platforms, and a long freeze at the country's biggest exchange touches a large share of Brazilian retail users. A clear reopening plan, plus a promise to make clients whole, is the outcome customers most wanted to hear.

The hack also landed days after the record $6.3 billion theft at Binance, which the FBI attributed to North Korea's TraderTraitor group. There is no public evidence linking the two incidents, and Mercado Bitcoin hasn't named a suspect. Still, back-to-back exchange breaches have pushed hot wallet security, and how quickly platforms can freeze and recover funds, to the top of the agenda.

Market reaction and Bitcoin price

The wider market has largely shrugged off exchange-specific news this week. Bitcoin rebounded alongside US stocks after the midterm elections:

• Bitcoin (BTC) is trading near $80,570, up about 3.7% in 24 hours, according to OKX.
• Ether (ETH) is up roughly 6% over the same period, near $2,428.

You can follow live prices on the Nodora charts page.

What to watch next

• Whether the view-only website access goes live on schedule on November 9 and balances match what users expect.
• A date for phase two, when withdrawals and trading are switched back on.
• Any explanation of how the attacker got signing access to the hot wallets.
• Further freezes or recoveries beyond the $15 million already blocked, and progress on the buyback.

Until withdrawals return, users should treat any message promising early access or a "recovery fee" as a likely scam. Mercado Bitcoin says it will keep posting official updates on its own channels.

#Mercado Bitcoin #Bitcoin #Exchange hack #Brazil #Crypto security

This article is general information, not financial advice.