On New Year's Day 2026, the cryptocurrency market was once again hit by a hack. Turkish cryptocurrency exchange BtcTurk suffered another security breach. According to a post by AnChain.AI early that morning, approximately $48 million in assets were stolen from the exchange's hot wallet.
Hacker Funds Flow
On-chain data shows that the attackers first withdrew funds from a BitTurk hot wallet, then transferred them in batches to the Ethereum mainnet and Layer 2 solutions such as Arbitrum and Polygon. Through cross-chain operations and multiple splits, all stolen assets were eventually aggregated to a single address.
There are currently no indications that the funds have been cashed out on a large scale, but as long as hackers further utilize privacy protocols or coin mixing services, the traceability of the stolen funds will rapidly decrease.
Warning signs of two thefts in six months
Ironically, this incident is not an isolated case. In August 2025, BitTorrent suffered a theft of approximately $54 million. The two attacks combined resulted in the platform losing over $100 million in less than six months. Although the company promised to strengthen risk management at the time, this latest breach, originating from a hot wallet, demonstrates that its security mechanisms are not yet fully in place.
As of press time, BtcTurk has not yet provided a specific compensation plan, and the progress of on-chain tracking and law enforcement cooperation remains to be seen.
