BtcTurk
Summary
BtcTurk is Turkey's oldest and largest centralized cryptocurrency exchange, founded in 2013 in Istanbul. The exchange has suffered two major hot wallet breaches in 14 months — approximately $55 million stolen in June 2024 and approximately $48–$49 million in August 2025 — both attributed to private key compromise, establishing a pattern of repeated critical security failures. Despite operating under Turkish regulatory frameworks (CMB and MASAK) and maintaining cold wallet protections, the exchange's inability to prevent a second near-identical attack within a year raises serious concerns about the adequacy of its security controls.
Connected Entities
1 entitiesTimeline(10 events)
2013-07
BtcTurk founded by Kerem Tibuk in Istanbul, Turkey. Claims to be the world's fourth cryptocurrency exchange and Turkey's first.
Bitget Academy — BTCTurk Guide2022-04
Reports emerge that Coinbase is in acquisition talks with BtcTurk at a valuation of approximately $3.2 billion. No transaction results.
CoinDesk2024-06
BtcTurk suffers a cyberattack on June 22, 2024. Private keys controlling ten hot wallets are compromised. Estimated $55 million stolen across multiple cryptocurrencies including AVAX, ETH, ARB, and others. ZachXBT identifies attacker address and AVAX movements to Coinbase and THORChain.
Euronews / Halborn / ZachXBT2024-06
Binance freezes approximately $5.3 million in stolen funds and assists with investigation. ZachXBT links the BtcTurk attacker to a contemporaneous $3.5 million hack of Sportsbet casino.
The Block / DailyCoin2024-07
CEO Ozgur Guneri resigns after approximately seven years. Founder Kerem Tibuk assumes acting CEO role. Guneri remains on the board.
Bloomberg2024-07
Turkish Parliament enacts legislation formally requiring crypto asset service providers to obtain operating licenses from the Capital Markets Board (CMB).
Lightspark2024-12
MASAK introduces regulation requiring user identification for crypto transactions exceeding 15,000 Turkish lira (approximately $425).
Notabene — Travel Rule Turkey2025-03
CMB publishes secondary communiques formalizing CASP licensing requirements. Full compliance required by June 30, 2026.
Mondaq2025-08
BtcTurk suffers a second major hot wallet breach on August 14, 2025 — approximately 14 months after the 2024 incident. Private key compromise across seven blockchain networks results in an estimated $48–$49 million stolen. Exchange suspends deposits and withdrawals and notifies law enforcement.
CoinDesk / The Record2025-08
BtcTurk launches a $2.4 million recovery bounty program offering up to 5% of recovered funds for actionable intelligence.
HackenProofDecision Log
- hash: A2FA2pUDZijTStnkcvKq5ArVbooqFGg3NSSPT728zZ62
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain and source URLs are archived via the Internet Archive.
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 5/4/2026, 2:54:31 AM
last updated: 5/26/2026, 4:11:12 AM
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