The popular Turkish cryptocurrency platform BtcTurk has temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals after cybersecurity specialists from several different companies detected suspicious outflows totaling $49 million.
The company was founded in 2013 in Istanbul and is considered the first Turkish crypto trading platform. BtcTurk gained widespread recognition in 2020 when it became one of the leading sponsors of Turkey’s men’s and women’s national football teams.
On August 14, 2025, BtcTurk representatives confirmed that the exchange had experienced a cyber incident and reported that an investigation was launched after unusual activity was detected in the company’s hot wallets.
According to the official statement, law enforcement authorities have already been notified of the incident, and deposits and withdrawals are expected to resume after the investigation is concluded.
“The overwhelming majority of assets are stored in our secure cold wallets. Thanks to BtcTurk’s robust financial structure, this incident will not affect user assets,” the company said. “Trading operations, as well as deposits and withdrawals of Turkish lira, continue to operate without interruption.”
As reported by blockchain analysts at PeckShield, they believe the exchange may have suffered a leak of the private key to its hot wallets. The researchers also note that by the time the attack was disclosed, the perpetrators behind the breach had already begun swapping the stolen tokens, aiming to complicate analysis of the attack and the tracking of the stolen assets.
As early as last night, about half of the stolen funds were converted into Ethereum, and analysts believe it will be difficult for BtcTurk to recover the stolen funds.
It’s worth noting that this was not the first hacker attack on BtcTurk. In 2024, the exchange reported an “unauthorized withdrawal of funds” from several hot wallets, which ultimately resulted in $55 million in losses.