THE HTX exchange, a digital asset trading platform linked to China-born industry mogul Justin Sun, has suffered a US$258 million net outflow since resuming operations after suffering a major hack.

The funds left the exchange between its Nov 25 restart and Dec 10, DefiLlama data show, a sign that some clients were unsettled by last month’s security incident. HTX said it lost US$30 million worth of crypto tokens in the breach and temporarily suspended withdrawals and deposits following the attack.

Neither the exchange nor a spokesperson for Sun immediately replied to requests for comment about the outflows from the exchange.

Sun is also linked to the Poloniex exchange and the HECO Bridge, a network set up by HTX to enable transfers between blockchains. Poloniex and HECO were hacked in November too, leading to the theft of about US$200 million in crypto.

After the November HTX incident, Sun said in a post on X that a probe was underway and that the exchange would “fully compensate for HTX’s hot wallet losses”. Hackers also stole US$8 million from the platform in September.

Top 20 exchange

HTX, once known as Huobi, had an average trading volume of US$1.6 billion in the past 24 hours, putting it in the top 20 crypto exchanges by that metric, according to CoinMarketCap figures as at 6.25 pm on Dec 10 in Singapore.

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Digital-asset investors have become more attuned to shifts in flows and reserves at virtual currency exchanges following the collapse of the FTX platform last year with a giant hole in its books.

At HTX, the biggest chunk of reserves – about 33 per cent – is comprised of Bitcoin, according to DefiLlama. About 32 per cent is in the TRX token from the Tron blockchain, which Sun launched in 2017. HTX’s exchange coin HT accounts for some 14 per cent, followed by a Sun-backed token called stUSDT on 12 per cent.

TRX is at the centre of US fraud allegations against Sun. The Securities and Exchange Commission in a March lawsuit accused him and his firms of market manipulation to make the token appear actively traded. Sun tweeted at the time that the suit “lacks merit”.

Security firm BlockSec said HTX recovered the US$8 million stolen in September. Hackers still appear to control the US$30 million taken last month, it added. BLOOMBERG