Mercado Bitcoin Freezes Deposits and Withdrawals Following Security Incident and $40 Million Outflow

Brazilian cryptocurrency exchange Mercado Bitcoin has suspended all deposits and withdrawals following a security incident detected in its internal systems. Blockchain security firm Hypernative flagged over $40 million in suspicious multi-chain outflows from exchange-associated wallets, concentrated between 3:19 a.m. and 3:53 a.m. local time across roughly ten blockchain networks on November 2, 2026. Mercado Bitcoin confirmed the breach was quickly contained, asserting customer data remains uncompromised and clients suffered no financial prejudice. The platform has not yet established a timeline for resuming normal operations while investigations and asset tracing continue.