Zilliqa has taken emergency action by requesting all cryptocurrency exchanges to halt deposits and withdrawals of ZIL tokens. This request comes after one of its partner exchanges reportedly suffered a cold wallet breach. In response to the news, the price of ZIL fell 9% in 24 hours, trading around $0.00254 at the time of writing.
What makes this alert particularly notable is not just the directive to suspend transactions, but the lack of details shared with the public.
Exchange Identity and Total Losses Kept Under Wraps
As of now, Zilliqa has not disclosed the identity of the affected exchange, the number of stolen tokens, or the estimated financial losses. The attack method used by the hackers has also not been revealed. Zilliqa has yet to confirm whether attackers exploited a vulnerability in its network infrastructure or solely targeted the partner exchange’s security systems.
Zilliqa confirmed that the incident only affects exchange-level transfers. Onchain transactions on the Zilliqa blockchain - which has operated using sharding technology since its mainnet launch in 2019 - continue to function normally. The development team has also not clarified whether the stolen ZIL tokens have been moved to other wallets or sent to centralized exchanges for liquidation.
Amid the lack of official confirmation, Bitget took independent action. The exchange announced the suspension of deposit and withdrawal services for the Zilliqa network starting July 20 at 18:15 UTC+8. Bitget cited wallet maintenance as the reason and did not link the suspension to the breach reported by Zilliqa.
How Significant Is the Threat?
Cold wallet breaches trigger sensitive market reactions, as cold storage is considered the strongest layer of defense. For comparison, the largest cold wallet compromise hit Bybit in February 2025, where attackers intercepted transaction processes and stole roughly $1.4 billion in assets.
Zilliqa is no stranger to operational challenges. The project has experienced several technical issues in the past, including block production bugs in September 2024 and node synchronization disruptions. However, Zilliqa stressed that this exchange breach is unrelated to the stability of its main network.
For ZIL holders, the coordinated suspension means deposit and withdrawal routes across exchanges are completely closed until further notice. The freeze is a standard procedure to prevent hackers from dumping stolen coins on the open market, albeit at the cost of liquidity uncertainty for users.
Reported via crypto.news.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only, not financial advice. Cryptocurrency assets are highly volatile and carry significant risk. Always do your own research (DYOR) and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
