The CEO of Wemix Foundation addressed the delayed announcement regarding a security breach that occurred on February 28 and confirmed the resumption of all services on March 21.
During a press conference on March 17, Kim Seok-hwan, CEO of Wemix Foundation, spoke about the late disclosure of the recent security breach and stated that full services would resume on March 21, as previously noted.
The security incident took place on February 28, affecting the Wemix Foundation’s “Play Bridge Vault” crypto wallet, which facilitates the transfer of WEMIX tokens to different blockchains.
Approximately 8.6 million WEMIX tokens, valued at about $6.04 million (8.75 billion won), were withdrawn. Following the breach, the compromised server was quickly shut down, and the incident was reported to the Cyber Investigation Team of the Seoul National Police Agency.
Although the breach was recognized on February 28, the Wemix Foundation did not make it public until March 4, which led to public criticism. In the press conference, CEO Kim Seok-hwan addressed the delay, attributing it to fears of further attacks and the desire to prevent a panic sell-off.
This situation is not the first instance where the Wemix Foundation faced scrutiny for its information disclosure practices. In October 2022, a warning was issued by the Digital Asset Exchange Joint Consultative Body, advising investors to be cautious with WEMIX due to problems with revealing its circulation volume.
Despite the criticism, the delay in the announcement was explained by the CEO as necessary to ascertain the method of infiltration in order to prevent subsequent attacks.
In addition to discussing the timing of the announcement, Seok-hwan mentioned that the foundation is investigating the breach’s origins and relocating all blockchain-related infrastructure, with the complete service restoration expected by March 21.
Alongside these actions, the Wemix Foundation also launched several buyback initiatives aimed at stabilizing the market. On March 13, a buyback plan worth 10 billion won was announced, followed by the acquisition of an additional 20 million WEMIX tokens.
In related developments, the WEMIX token has risen from a closing price of $0.45 on March 4 (when the hack was disclosed) to $0.57 at the time of this writing, according to market data. However, it still shows a daily decline of 3%.