Zilliqa Says ZIL Stolen From an Exchange Partner's Cold Wallet, Asks Exchanges to Pause Transfers

In brief

Zilliqa, the layer-1 blockchain project, said on Monday that ZIL tokens had been stolen from a cold wallet belonging to one of its exchange partners, and that it had asked exchanges to temporarily pause ZIL deposits and withdrawals while it investigates. In a statement posted to its official X account at 10:17 UTC on July 20, 2026, the project said the incident was under active investigation and that the precautionary freeze was meant to stop the stolen funds from being moved or sold through centralised platforms. Zilliqa framed the breach as occurring at an exchange partner's custody, not on its own blockchain, and did not report any interruption to the network itself. It did not name the affected exchange, disclose how much was taken, or explain the cause.

What Zilliqa said

In its statement, Zilliqa said it had "been made aware of a security incident involving one of our exchange partners, in which ZIL was stolen from a cold wallet." It said the incident was under active investigation and that it was working with the relevant parties to establish the root cause and full scope. The wording locates the breach at an exchange partner's cold wallet — a custody system run by a third party — rather than at the Zilliqa protocol or its on-chain infrastructure.

As a precaution, the project said, all exchanges had been notified and asked to temporarily pause ZIL deposits and withdrawals, to prevent the stolen funds from being moved or sold through centralised platforms. Zilliqa asked the community to rely only on its official channels for updates and said it would share more once it had verified information.

An exchange acts, but the details stay thin

The visible market-plumbing effect is that at least one venue restricted ZIL transfers. crypto.news reported that Bitget separately announced it would suspend ZIL deposits and withdrawals from 18:15 UTC+8 on July 20, citing "wallet maintenance" and saying it would announce a reopening time later. That is an observed exchange action consistent with Zilliqa's pause request; on the reviewed record it does not identify Bitget as the exchange partner whose cold wallet was breached — a partner Zilliqa has not named. The same report noted that Zilliqa had not disclosed the amount taken, the affected partner, or the cause.

Because the request went to all exchanges, the practical effect reaches anyone trying to move ZIL on or off a centralised platform while the pause holds — the reason the operator's own words, and not the undisclosed size of the theft, are what carry this report.

What to watch

The concrete next signals are all things Zilliqa has said it will provide, or that exchanges control: an official figure for how much ZIL was taken, the identity of the affected exchange partner, a root-cause account, and word from exchanges — Bitget among them — on when ZIL deposits and withdrawals reopen. Any statement naming a responsible party would be a new development beyond this report.

What we do not know

Several things are not established from the reviewed record. Zilliqa has not disclosed the amount or scale of the theft, has not named the exchange partner whose cold wallet was affected, and has not explained the root cause, which it says remains under investigation. No party has been identified as responsible. It is also unknown when the paused ZIL deposits and withdrawals will resume, and whether any of the stolen funds can be recovered.