Bitcoin Holds Near $78K Over Weekend As Polymarket Refunds Hack Victims After Crypto Security Scares
Bitcoin (BTC) remained stable around $78,000 over the weekend, displaying strength after a tumultuous week marked by two high-profile crypto security breaches, with Polymarket taking steps to compensate traders affected by its hack and trading suspension.The company said that “689 of 726 affected wallets have been refunded in full.” The remaining 37 “were being paid as each is verified,” it said. Polymarket was also covering losses caused by the outage itself.“We’re also going further,” the company said, while adding that traders who lost money during the trading pause, or whose positions were “taken,” will be compensated too. Polymarket said it is paying “$1.19M to 5.5K wallets,” starting with that update.What Happened?The breach hit Polymarket.com, the company’s international platform, on Saturday. Polymarket said one of its third-party providers “was compromised,” and that it had referred the matter to law enforcement.“Anyone who has been impacted will be made whole,” the company said that day. Trading was paused, and once it was back online, Polymarket said, “We’ll make this right and are fully reimbursing all affected traders.”A Rough Week For Crypto SecurityThe breach occurred on the same day as a far larger hack at Binance, in which attackers stole more than $6 billion. The FBI said on Saturday that was responsible, naming the operation “TraderTraitor.” The two incidents rattled crypto markets.More than $1.6 billion in leveraged bets were wiped out, and Bitcoin (BTC) fell to a near $77,300 on Thursday. Binance began restoring withdrawals this weekend, starting with the Bitcoin network. It said it has replenished about 90% of the stolen crypto.Markets have since calmed. Bitcoin’s price traded around $77,900 on Sunday, hitting an intraday high of $78,133, while the Crypto Fear & Greed Index moved back to “Neutral.” On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment around BTC moved to ‘extremely bearish’ from ‘bearish’ zone, while chatter around it shifted to ‘normal’ from ‘high’ over the past day.