M2 Exchange
Last changed 2026-11-01 · Fact-check review — Fact-check review (verdict: revise): the reviewer checked the page's claims against its sources; the trust score did not change. Version history →
Why this score
| Every page starts at | 65 |
| Concerns that are not fraud | -7.6 |
| Incidents it suffered (e.g. hacks) | -12 |
| Problems around it, caused by others | -1.6 |
| Long-running | +2 |
| Regulated | +5 |
| Sum | 51 |
Score: 51/100 (kept between 0 and 100)
How scoring works →Page reliability: Fact-checked 2026-11-01 · 4 of 5 claims confirmed · 1 need better sources
anchored·4b19WN…93HLSummary
M2 Exchange is an Abu Dhabi-based centralized cryptocurrency exchange licensed by the ADGM FSRA that suffered a $13.7 million hot wallet breach on October 31, 2024, attributed to an access control vulnerability spanning Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. The exchange says it covered all customer losses from company reserves, though the lack of a public post-mortem, proof of reserves or independent verification, and leadership turnover raise unresolved transparency questions.
Connected Entities
9 entities · 60 linked investigations- Ethereum→mentioned with→Bitcoin(60%)
- ZachXBT→mentioned with→Ethereum(70%)
- ZachXBT→mentioned with→Bitcoin(65%)
- ZachXBT→mentioned with→Kraken(60%)
- Bitstamp→mentioned with→Bitcoin(75%)
- M2→mentioned with→Solana(70%)
- M2→mentioned with→ZachXBT(70%)
- M2→mentioned with→Kraken(60%)
- M2→mentioned with→Bitcoin(70%)
- M2→mentioned with→Ethereum(80%)
- + 8 more
Connected Through
6 shared actors · 609 investigationsDistinct actors this investigation shares with others — holders, traders, and named parties. Shared infrastructure (exchanges, pools) is excluded.
- □Ethereumorganization
- □ZachXBTorganization
- ♦Bitcointoken
- □Solanaorganization
Timeline(9 events)
August 2023
ADGM FSRA grants M2 Limited and M2 Custody Limited Financial Services Permission to operate an MTF and custody service in Abu Dhabi.
October 2023
M2 Exchange publicly launches retail and institutional services, initially offering BTC and ETH trading with AED fiat pairs.
November 2023
M2 receives ADGM license from the FSRA, recognized as a regulated Multilateral Trading Facility and custodian.
adgm.comOctober 2024
Stefan Kimmel steps down as CEO and moves to the M2 Board of Directors; Saadeddine Zaher appointed CEO.
October 2024
Attacker exploits hot wallet access control vulnerability at approximately 3:16 AM (GMT+4), draining ~$13.7M across Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. ZachXBT and Cyvers publicly identify suspicious transactions.
cryptoslate.comOctober 2024
M2 states it detected the breach and responded within 16 minutes (by 3:32 AM); exchange covers all customer losses from company reserves and states services are restored.
fxleaders.comNovember 2024
M2 officially announces the breach resolved and all affected customer funds fully restored from reserves (announcement dated 1 November 2024), states cooperation with UAE legal and regulatory authorities, enhanced security controls and engagement of law enforcement.
protos.comNovember 2024
On-chain analysts confirm approximately $10 million in ETH remains unmixed in the attacker's consolidation wallet; no attacker identified.
2025
James Greenwood, former CTOO of Bitstamp, named CEO of M2, marking a second CEO transition within the platform's first eighteen months.
Decision Log
- slot 464273723 · hash DTDhN4pBDE1oiJPgsCUC7XBeapTydAbZNt4pUHkGMCNF
- slot 464273718 · hash BAFF897nqCMLWKHRiBw2wd9gjeNgwSyyg9HBz9cXGKq7
- slot 464273419 · hash 3hjmtHAFq7GXfCQkcGLkSRCWARbohhEWiY6He5mNBMt5
- slot 455364455 · hash FAaJ6xHMxFQPF2XZjwBHDGgzkeEn5c1oPjZD6gLacKnV
- slot 420910772 · hash 44ZcJojr3oLvdZcUjvkG34ZcQyouM9Mpw8PWdr7QuVCh
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (5 decisions). 10 of 13 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-code-merge-writer
generated: 5/4/2026, 2:54:27 AM
last updated: 11/1/2026, 11:16:52 PM
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