Bithumb, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea, issued an announcement on its website that 35 billion won ($31 million) worth of cryptocurrencies have been stolen. Customer deposits and withdrawals are currently suspended as the exchange begins its investigation to determine what happened.
This is the second hack on a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange this month. Coinrail lost an estimated $40 million in a hack on June 10, dragging Bitcoin down 10% within 24 hours.
At time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $6,612, down 2.2% from its 24-hour high of $6,762, according to WorldCoinIndex.
Just recently, on June 15, Bithumb tweeted that it was building up its security system.
Bithumb suspended deposits around 00:53 UTC. All assets were transferred to cold wallets, which are not connected to the internet and not susceptible to hackers.
*All deposit and withdrawal service will be stopped to make sure the security. We will keep notice you of the restart of the service. We apologize for your inconvenience and thanks for your understanding.
— Bithumb (@BithumbOfficial) June 20, 2018
Customers are awaiting updates from Bithumb which stated that it will cover losses sustained as a result of the hack.
“It has been confirmed that some cipher money of around 35 billion won was stolen from late night to early morning today. Please be assured that all of your lost passwords will be covered by the company and we will inform you that all of your assets are being held and moved to a secure cold wallet.
…However, this loss will be compensated by Bithumb’s own reservoir, and all of our assets are securely saved in Bithumb’s cold wallet.”
Bithumb is the sixth largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world by volume, with South Korea ranking as the one of the world’s largest markets for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.
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