# Brazil’s Biggest Bitcoin Exchange Says It Will Refund Users After a $40 Million Hack

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/brazils-biggest-bitcoin-exchange-says-it-will-refund-users-after-a-40-million-hack/
- Published: 2026-11-03T18:16:03+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-03T23:35:10+00:00
- Original publisher: Decrypt
- Original article: https://decrypt.co/382459/brazil-mercado-bitcoin-will-refund-users-40-million-hack
- Topics: Americas, Business, Crypto, Cybersecurity, Technology, World

## Key points

- Mercado Bitcoin says it will cover customers’ losses after a 2 November hack.
- The exchange estimates $38 million was affected; Chainalysis estimates about $49 million.
- Deposits and withdrawals remain suspended, with no restart date announced.

## Summary

Mercado Bitcoin, Brazil’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, says it will cover customers’ losses after a security breach on 2 November. The exchange puts the value of the affected assets at about $38 million and says customer balances remain recorded in their accounts. It suspended deposits and withdrawals while it investigates, and has given no date for restoring them. The company says no customer data was leaked and has not explained how the attacker gained access.

Estimates of the theft differ. Blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis puts it at about $49 million and says assets were moved across 17 blockchains. Mercado Bitcoin says it has blocked $11 million with help from industry partners; freezing tokens prevents further transfers but does not itself recover the money. The exchange says it has informed the authorities and will resume services once security is restored. Its promise to cover customers’ losses has yet to be tested through completed repayments.

## Coverage

- [Decrypt: Brazil’s Biggest Bitcoin Exchange Says It Will Refund Users After a $40 Million Hack](https://decrypt.co/382459/brazil-mercado-bitcoin-will-refund-users-40-million-hack)
- [Chainalysis: Disrupting the Mercado Bitcoin Attack: How Chainalysis Led the Freeze of Nearly $10M in Stolen Funds](https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/chainalysis-response-mercado-bitcoin/)

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.