Summary
Poloniex is a cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2014 and acquired in 2019 by an investor group led by Tron founder Justin Sun. On November 10, 2023, the exchange suffered one of the largest hot wallet compromises in crypto history, with attackers draining approximately $126 million across Ethereum, TRON, and Bitcoin networks in an attack attributed by multiple blockchain security firms to North Korea's Lazarus Group. The exchange has also faced significant regulatory enforcement actions, including a $7.59 million OFAC sanctions settlement and a $10.4 million SEC settlement for operating an unregistered national securities exchange.
Connected Entities
1 entities- + 5 more
Timeline(15 events)
2014-01-01
Poloniex founded by Tristan D'Agosta; exchange opens for trading.
2014-03-01
Poloniex suffers its first hack, losing approximately 12.3% of its Bitcoin holdings.
2018-02-01
Circle Internet Financial acquires Poloniex for approximately $400 million.
2019-10-01
Poloniex spins out from Circle as Polo Digital Assets, Ltd., backed by an Asian investor group including Justin Sun. U.S. customers notified of service termination.
2019-11-12
Justin Sun publicly confirms his investment in Poloniex via a live stream on Poloniex's official Twitter profile.
2019-12-15
Final deadline for U.S. users to withdraw funds from Poloniex.
2021-08-09
SEC charges Poloniex with operating an unregistered national securities exchange; Poloniex settles for $10,388,309.
2023-05-01
OFAC announces $7.59 million settlement with Poloniex for approximately 65,942 apparent sanctions violations involving users in Crimea, Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria.
2023-09-24
Justin Sun's HTX exchange (formerly Huobi) suffers a $8 million hack.
2023-11-10
Poloniex hot wallets on Ethereum, TRON, and Bitcoin are compromised; approximately $126 million drained. Justin Sun pledges full reimbursement and offers a 5% bounty to the attackers.
2023-11-14
Hackers begin moving stolen funds; approximately 1,100 ETH sent to Tornado Cash mixer.
2023-11-23
HTX and Heco Chain suffer additional exploits totaling approximately $115 million, bringing total losses across Sun-affiliated platforms to over $240 million in roughly two months.
2024-04-12
Poloniex announces bulk asset delistings, signaling platform contraction.
2024-08-23
Further bulk asset delistings announced by Poloniex.
2024-11-07
Additional bulk delistings; platform continues to reduce listed assets.
Decision Log
- hash: CXuAU3sBfM4FsKuamXUq4wZQNhnnMmP73LEVdscmWFki
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain and source URLs are archived via the Internet Archive.
model: claude-sonnet-4-5
generated: 5/4/2026, 2:54:37 AM
last updated: 5/20/2026, 3:41:11 PM
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