0
1
One of Asia’s largest crypto exchanges, Bithumb announced that they have fallen victim to a hack attack, with hackers reportedly stealing more than $30 million worth digital currencies.
Wallet change backfires
Last Tuesday, June 19, the cryptocurrency exchange made an announcement that they would be temporarily suspending deposits to give way to a wallet change in their exchange service. While a wallet change is meant as a security enhancement, it backfired in the case of Bithumb, which resulted in a startling cryptocurrency hack.
Twelve minutes after suspending their deposit system, the crypto exchange then announced that they will be suspending “all” deposit and withdrawal services because of a hack amounting to more than $30 million. In an already deleted Twitter post, Bithumb said that they have found out that “some of cryptocurrencies valued about $30,000,000 was stolen.”
Bithumb has immediately moved all assets to a cold storage to prevent any further attempts.
The security breach could have stemmed from a malicious code embedded in one of the wallets that was changed. As of press time, the perpetrators of the theft have yet to be identified. Bithumb has also announced that in order to alleviate further risks, all deposits and withdrawals have been suspended until further notice. This would allow the cryptocurrency exchange to get its security systems back on track.
Bithumb, has a trading volume of more than $270 million over a 24-hour period. On the other hand, the stolen $30 million is projected to cause an estimated 3 percent market drop.
Meanwhile, Litecoin founder Charlie Lee announced via his Twitter account that users should keep their crypto holdings in secure personal wallets. He tweeted:
“Another day, another hack. Hopefully BitThumb is able to cover this amount, though $30MM is not a small amount.”
Immediately after the news of the hacking broke, the price of Bitcoin took a plunge dropping over $200 in just a few minutes. However, it has stabilized at $6,600 the next day.
