Crypto News: BitMart Hit by $391K Hack While Winding Down as Buyers Back Pepeto

Traders who still keep coins on a closing exchange got a hard reminder this week. BitMart founder Sheldon Xia confirmed on November 3 that the exchange was hacked the day before. About $391,000 was drained from wallets on Base, Arbitrum and Optimism. The sum is small, but Xia said his security staff is badly short. So this week’s crypto news asks how safe coins are on an exchange that is shutting down.

While the exchanges hold the headlines, some money is moving one step earlier, into Pepeto. It is a presale for a meme coin building a swap that never takes custody of its users’ coins.

Crypto News: BitMart Confirms a $391,000 Hack During Its Wind Down

BitMart, which stopped trading in August and closed new deposits on July 26, said attackers took about $391,000 on November 2. The drain came roughly 53 minutes before Brazil’s Mercado Bitcoin was hit. Xia said early checks point to the same group, with chain records showing a shared receiving address.

The loss stayed small because the remaining core team moved quickly to investigate and tighten security, according to Xia. Advisers have also met BitMart’s 50 largest users who still hold funds there.

However, stolen funds keep moving. On November 4 the Mercado Bitcoin attacker sold PEPE, AAVE, UNI, ONDO and ENA and swapped everything into 7,988 ETH, about $18.2 million. This large amount makes it far harder to freeze. A coin left with a custodial exchange carries that risk at any size.

This leaves the crypto news with a plain point for every holder: an exchange that keeps the coins can lose them. Pepeto is building the reverse, a swap where funds never leave the trader’s own wallet.

Pepeto’s Buyers Want an Exchange That Never Holds Their Coins

No exchange can promise its wallets are safe from attack, so buyers are funding a swap built never to hold their coins. Pepeto, a meme coin with AI tools in development, has drawn more than $11.2 million through a month of exchange hacks. The stage price is $0.0000001905.

PepetoSwap, now in private testing for invited community members and big investors, is non custodial, so trades settle from the user’s own wallet and no operator holds funds. Orders run as market, limit or DCA. A private relay against front running is on by default. The fee is 0.00%, with gas the only cost. A $1,000 trade costs $3 on Uniswap and $2.50 on PancakeSwap. Therefore, swapping $2,000 three times a week keeps about $936 a year.

The bridge and the scanner are being built beside it, and the project carries a SolidProof audit. Meme coins have grown on crowds before, and the team says Pepeto’s cofounder was behind the original Pepe. This time an exchange in development stands behind the meme.

Stages close on a timer or a target, and the price steps higher for every later buyer. The team describes a Binance listing as approaching, and the exchange gives traders a reason to keep using the token after that day.

Conclusion

BitMart’s users may recover their money in the restructuring, but they wait on a plan set by others. Pepeto’s buyers hold their own tokens. Their next price step comes from the stage rule set in the sale.

For anyone following crypto news this week, the point is where coins are held. Pepeto is the presale where buyers keep their coins while an exchange that never holds them is built.

Pepe launched in April 2023 with a supply near 420 trillion and no product, and it passed $11 billion in market value by December 2024. The team says that same cofounder now leads Pepeto, with the same 420 trillion supply and an exchange in development behind it. Buyers entering before the listing the team expects are backing a method that has worked once already.

Click To Visit Pepeto official Website To Enter The Presale