BitMart founder Sheldon Xia said the cryptocurrency exchange’s security team is “severely understaffed” after a hack on Monday, while blockchain analysts traced suspicious transfers to a wallet linked to the $46 million attack on Brazil-based exchange Mercado Bitcoin.

Blockchain analytics firm Bitquery said it identified about $391,000 in suspicious transfers from wallets mostly associated with BitMart. The transfers occurred across three blockchains and were traced to a wallet also linked to the Mercado Bitcoin breach.

Xia disclosed the latest BitMart incident in a post on X on Wednesday: https://x.com/sheldonbitmart/status/2117650361154691529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Yes, we got hacked yesterday too. The amount involved was small, and we acted quickly to investigate and strengthen security. As a result of the restructuring, we have retained only a core team. Doxxing and threats from users, along with retaliation by certain disgruntled… — Sheldon (@sheldonbitmart) November 3, 2026

Xia said threats against employees and alleged retaliation by former workers had made it more difficult to retain technical staff. “It took considerable effort and individual conversations to persuade some key technical staff to remain and maintain our core systems,” he wrote. He added that BitMart continues to face “numerous attacks.”

Xia described the amount taken in Monday’s incident as small but did not provide an exact figure. BitMart had not responded to Cointelegraph’s questions about the restructuring, staffing levels or the latest breach by the time of publication.

The incident follows months of uncertainty surrounding the exchange. In July, BitMart said it would end trading on Aug. 26 and shut down in January 2027. Users subsequently reported delayed withdrawals and frozen accounts, raising concerns about access to their funds.

In August, BitMart’s Chinese-language X account claimed that employees had not been paid and demanded answers about customer funds. Xia said those claims were fabricated, although it was unclear at the time who controlled the account.

On Monday, BitMart published a restructuring proposal containing three possible recovery options for users. The options include distributions of liquid assets and tokens tied to recovery. The exchange said it plans to seek court approval in December or January, the next step in moving the recovery proposal forward.

Funds traced to Mercado Bitcoin wallet

Bitquery published its investigation into the BitMart breach on Wednesday. The firm found approximately $391,000 in suspicious transfers originating from wallets mostly tied to BitMart and moving across three blockchains.

The funds were traced to a wallet that was also linked to the Mercado Bitcoin hack. Mercado Bitcoin lost more than $46 million in an attack on Monday, Nov. 2, the same day BitMart was hacked.

Xia had previously said he suspected that the two incidents could be connected. Bitquery’s findings provide support for that initial view, although the investigation did not establish who carried out either attack.

T3 Financial Crime Unit disbands

Separately, a cryptocurrency crime-fighting group established by Tron, Tether and TRM Labs has dissolved, Bloomberg reported Wednesday. The group, known as the T3 Financial Crime Unit, launched in September 2024 and was later joined by Binance.

People familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that the group struggled with slow responses and poor coordination. One source said T3 disbanded in late August.

In May, T3 said it had helped freeze more than $450 million in assets linked to suspected criminal activity since its launch. The group’s dissolution comes during a period of major cryptocurrency hacks. Last week, Binance suffered a $6.3 billion breach, described in the source report as the largest cryptocurrency theft on record. The Bloomberg report came the same day Bitquery published its findings on the BitMart breach, pairing the loss of a coordinated industry freezing initiative with evidence of suspicious funds moving across multiple blockchains.

Source: https://coincentral.com/bitmart-hack-trail-leads-to-wallet-tied-to-46m-mercado-bitcoin-attack