Nigerian Crypto Marketplace Patricia Faces $2 Million Loss in Breach

Digital asset marketplace Patricia has announced a security breach involving the loss of Bitcoin and naira assets.

The cryptocurrency platform disclosed that its retail trading application, Patricia Personal, was compromised, while other crypto assets remained unaffected. In response to the breach, Patricia temporarily suspended withdrawals on its mobile and web apps to assess the situation.

However, sources with insider knowledge revealed that the incident actually occurred in January 2022 and cost the company a staggering $2 million. The company claimed to have identified the source of the breach, a "syndicated group," and is pursuing legal action.

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Initially founded as a gift card exchange platform, the company has rapidly gained recognition and currently handles 30,000 daily transactions, serving around 850,000 users.

The company, in a message, assured its users and merchants that their assets were safe and efforts were underway to recover the compromised funds. Patricia hinted that its growing popularity as a Bitcoin exchange platform may have made it a target for hackers.

Aside from the breach and liquidity challenges, Patricia's leadership recently announced another round of layoffs in a company-wide meeting. Although the retail trading app employed approximately 160 individuals, sources indicate that earlier layoffs occurred in 2022, with no clear explanation provided at the time.

Team leads were reportedly instructed to downsize their teams by up to 80%, causing uncertainty among employees about their job security.