CNBC talked to more than a dozen BitMart users personally affected by the breach. One common theme across many of these conversations was a desire for transparency. The shared feeling was that bad news was better than no news.
One BitMart user, who said he felt his tokens were “being held hostage,” sent CNBC a screenshot of his exchange with the admin who runs BitMart’s Telegram account. When he asked Thursday evening whether there was any further guidance on when he would be receiving his safemoon tokens back, the reply read, “We’ll announce when there’s an update.”
Toronto-based Mohamad, who asked that CNBC just refer to him by his first name, said he feels close to committing suicide because of his experience with BitMart.
The Iranian refugee has $53,000 worth of the safemoon token stored on his BitMart wallet, $40,000 of which came from a loan that he has to pay back with 4% interest.
The 38-year-old tells CNBC that from 7 A.M. until 10 P.M., seven days a week, he works as a tow truck driver for a road side assistance company. He says he has to work long hours because his employer pays him a per-job commission rather than an hourly wage. He gets $20 per job, but he has to pay for his own diesel fuel.
He began to invest in cryptocurrencies to try to carve out a future for himself in Canada.
“I just was thinking I can grow my money, then I can go to school to learn English and go to college,” Mohamad shared with CNBC. “I don’t have any savings.”
Another BitMart user tells CNBC that it is not just his money at stake. His mother and mother-in-law pooled together $30,000 and asked him to invest the cash in BitMart on their behalf.
“After I put it in, the freaking hack happened, so I was going crazy, because I didn’t have anything to give them,” he said.
New York-based “Mr. Blik,” who also asked not to use his real name, tells CNBC the timing couldn’t have been worse.
“This happened close to the holidays…People sometimes have to liquidate some of their positions to cover expenses, to buy things for kids for Christmas. Their inability to make people whole really created an environment where that freedom that we all strive for was taken away from us,” Mr. Blik said.
One Kansas-based crypto investor, who has around $35,000 stuck in BitMart, told CNBC he wasn’t terribly worried until recently.
“There was some general understanding, even patience, from holders that BitMart was merely waiting until after the first of the year to re-purchase the stolen hot wallet tokens for tax reasons,” he said.
This same BitMart customer now says he is in touch with around 6,800 holders who are considering filing a class-action suit against the exchange. They are giving it about a week until they take action.
The Safemoon Army is pressuring BitMart through a Twitter campaign designed to shame the exchange into following through on paying back victims of the hack. The safemoon contingent is pushing the Twitter hashtag #WenBitMart, which began trending on Monday night.
“We’ve come such a long way now that I believe that BitMart will keep their promise and do the right thing…Especially with the safemoon army, we have such a great support for what we’re trying to achieve that it wouldn’t die down. It won’t only add more fuel to the fire.”
This content was originally published here.
