The issuer of the USDT stablecoin has blocked the transfer of more than 4.5 million tokens following a security breach at Mercado Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in Brazil. While the frozen assets are intended to limit the movement of funds linked to the cyberattack, Tether clarified that the measure does not automatically return the stolen assets to the exchange or its customers.
Mercado Bitcoin has suspended all deposits and withdrawals as it investigates the Nov 2 incident and traces affected assets, although it maintains that no customer funds were lost and no data was leaked. In contrast, blockchain security firm Hypernative identified more than $40 million in suspicious transfers across 10 different networks, including Solana and Tron, in connection with the breach.