Solana tokens rip on Upbit after $32M hack due to halted arbitrage
Solana tokens surged on South Korea's Upbit exchange following a $32M hack because halted arbitrage bots caused massive price premiums.Summary
Solana-based tokens experienced double-digit gains on the South Korean exchange Upbit after a hack resulted in the theft of approximately $32 million (44.5 billion won) from a hot wallet. CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju noted that the subsequent suspension of arbitrage bots, which normally align Korean and international prices, caused significant premiums on Upbit for affected tokens like ORCA (95.6% premium) and Meteora (82% premium) due to local retail buying pressure.
Upbit suspended deposits and withdrawals on November 27 after detecting unauthorized transfers of 24 Solana-based assets. The exchange confirmed that cold wallet reserves were safe, and CEO Oh Kyung-seok pledged to cover the full loss from company reserves, assuring customers they would face no losses. Upbit froze about 2.3 billion won worth of Solayer tokens on-chain while tracking the rest of the stolen funds.
The exchange is conducting a comprehensive security review before resuming services, though technical details of the breach remain undisclosed. While the $32 million loss is significant for 2025, it is smaller than major historical hacks. Upbit has not provided a timeline for restoring full deposit and withdrawal services.
(Source：CryptoSlate)