Crypto Today: Upbit $36M breach, Lee cools forecast, Bolivia
Key developments in the digital asset sector on Thursday included a temporary halt of transfers at South Korea’s largest exchange Upbit following an estimated $36 million Solana hot-wallet breach, a moderated year-end Bitcoin outlook from BitMine chair Tom Lee, and Bolivia’s plan to bring cryptocurrencies and stablecoins into its banking framework.
Upbit reports $36 million Solana hot-wallet breach; halts transfers after $10 billion Naver deal
Upbit, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, paused deposits and withdrawals on Thursday after detecting roughly $36 million in unauthorized outflows from a Solana network hot wallet. The exchange said suspicious activity was identified at about 4:42 am local time (7:42 pm UTC), triggering a platform-wide suspension of transfers and a comprehensive security review of supported assets.
Upbit stated the incident was confined to its hot wallet and that cold-wallet reserves were not affected. Remaining funds were relocated to cold storage, and the exchange began on-chain measures to freeze the assets in question.
The breach drew further attention to parent company Dunamu a day after it announced a $10 billion acquisition deal with fintech giant Naver. It also recalled Upbit’s 2019 security incident, when the exchange lost nearly $50 million in an attack attributed to the Lazarus Group of North Korea.
As a precaution, Upbit has suspended deposits and withdrawals across the platform, not limited to Solana-based tokens, and said the measures will remain until the security review is complete.
Tom Lee tempers $250,000 Bitcoin outlook; year-end ATH now a “maybe”
Tom Lee, chair of BitMine, appeared to step back from his widely discussed call for Bitcoin to reach $250,000 by year-end, saying it is now only a “maybe” that the asset could revisit its October all-time high of $125,100 before the year closes.
Bitcoin is down 1.85% over the past 12 months. Source: CoinMarketCap
“I think it’s still very likely that Bitcoin is going to be above $100,000 before year-end, and maybe even to a new high,” Lee said in a Wednesday interview with CNBC. This appears to be the first instance in which he has publicly softened the $250,000 target he introduced earlier in 2024 and reiterated through early October.
Other industry leaders, including Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz, cautioned around October that “crazy stuff” would likely be necessary for Bitcoin to reach that level this year.
Lee added that some of Bitcoin’s strongest sessions could still arrive ahead of the end of 2025. “I still think some of those best days are going to happen before year-end,” he said, with 35 days remaining until the end of 2025.
Bolivia to bring cryptocurrencies and stablecoins into its financial system
Bolivia plans to integrate cryptocurrencies and stablecoins into its financial system to support economic modernization, Economic Minister Jose Gabriel Espinoza announced on Tuesday.
Under the plan, banks will be permitted to provide crypto custody services for clients, enabling digital currencies to function as a legal tender for savings accounts, credit products, and loans, according to Reuters. “You can’t control crypto globally, so you have to recognize it and use it to your advantage,” Espinoza said.
High inflation in Bolivia, as in parts of Latin America, has prompted some residents to adopt stablecoins as a store of value and for transactions. Analysts have suggested that competition and fear of missing out are motivating factors in nation-states’ efforts to incorporate crypto into their financial systems.
Growth rate of crypto adoption by geographic region in 2024 and 2025. Source: Chainalysis
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