Crypto.com Platform Halts Withdrawals After Suspicious Account Activity

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Online platform crypto.com suspended customer withdrawals for about 2 p.m. Monday after reports of unauthorized activity on some users’ accounts, the company said.

No user funds were lost, Chief Executive Kris Marszalek tweeted TWTR -2.97% Monday night. Although he did not provide details on the incident, he said the company would provide a full report after it completes its investigation.

“Our team reinforced the infrastructure in response to the incident,” he said.

Late Sunday evening, the Singapore-based platform said via Twitter that it had a “small number of users reporting suspicious activity on their accounts” and that it would halt all withdrawals in response.

The company was not immediately available to comment on details of the incident.

Crypto.com has become one of the largest cryptocurrency platforms, currently ranked 10th in spot trading, according to CoinMarketCap, and the company has become much more visible in recent months.

He recently secured a number of sports-related marketing deals. In November, he signed a 20-year, $700 million naming rights deal with Staples Center in Los Angeles, home of the NBA Lakers.

In February, he will air a Super Bowl commercial, his first. He has already launched an ad campaign featuring actor Matt Damon.

Malicious activity is a small but persistent part of the crypto markets. Unlike credit card transactions, transactions for bitcoin and other digital assets are irreversible, given the nature of the technology.

Around $3.2 billion worth of cryptocurrency was stolen in 2021, according to analytics firm Chainalysis, up 516% from the previous year. Most of that, around $2.2 billion, was stolen from decentralized platforms, those that operate without any single ownership group. The amount stolen from the centralized platforms was less than $500 million.

Although the SEC has not announced any major actions against major crypto exchanges, the commission has threatened to sue companies offering crypto loans. The WSJ’s Dion Rabouin explains why this part of the crypto market has received such a strong reaction. Photo: Mark Lennihan/Associated Press

Write to Paul Vigna at [email protected]

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