Mercado Bitcoin Will Cover Customer Losses From Security Incident

Mercado Bitcoin, one of Brazil's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has pledged to use its own funds to replace customer balances transferred out during a security incident, according to a company statement issued as it works to restore platform access.

The commitment comes with trading and withdrawals still suspended. Mercado Bitcoin said it is reviewing its systems before reopening markets, and customers currently can't move assets off the platform or execute trades.

What can customers do right now?

Access is returning in phases. The first phase lets customers sign in and view their account balances and holdings — read-only functionality designed to give users visibility into their positions while the exchange completes its security review. Mercado Bitcoin said it expected to extend website access to all customers during Monday's rollout.

The company said its internal records remain intact. Specifically, it stated that its records of customer asset quantities, investments and balances denominated in Brazilian reals were preserved through the incident. That distinction matters: the exchange is treating the transferred-out balances as a solvency question it can absorb with corporate funds, not a data-integrity problem that would leave customer positions unverifiable.

How will the replacement work?

Mercado Bitcoin said it will use company funds to cover the balances that were moved out during the incident. Customer balances will be updated as the platform and its markets reopen — meaning users shouldn't expect a single lump-sum reconciliation, but rather a staged restoration tied to the phased resumption of services.

The exchange laid out a staged recovery sequence:

• Phase one (underway): customers sign in and view balances and holdings, with access rolling out to all users during Monday.
• Phase two: security reviews are completed before any resumption of trading.
• Phase three: trading and withdrawals resume in stages, with customer balances updated as markets come back online.

Why the phased approach matters

For an exchange of Mercado Bitcoin's standing in the Brazilian market, the operational calculus is straightforward. Restoring withdrawals before security reviews conclude risks a second incident; keeping them frozen too long risks a customer run once gates reopen. The read-only access phase is a middle path — it gives users account visibility and, the exchange clearly hopes, patience, without restoring transfer capability.

The decision to cover replacement costs from company funds rather than through insurance or third-party reimbursement also signals the exchange intends to absorb the loss directly. Mercado Bitcoin did not state the total value of balances transferred out, nor has it publicly detailed the mechanism of the incident itself.

What happens next

The near-term markers to watch are concrete: full website access for all customers following Monday's rollout, completion of the security review, and the staged reopening of trading and withdrawals — at which point customers will learn in practice how quickly balances are restored and whether the platform holds under returning volume.