A Bitcoin exchange, Bitstamp, lost twelve percent of its bitcoins; that equates to almost 18,866 bitcoins that were stolen. One bitcoin is currently worth $240.35 (as of 20th February 2015 @ 1:50 am). After the bitcoins were discovered missing, they tweeted that they had reason to believe that one of Bitstamp’s operational wallets was compromised.
My sincerest apologies to those who are affected by our service being temporary suspended. Details: http://t.co/SzgFNa1NEM
— Nejc Kodrič (@nejc_kodric) January 5, 2015
The company claims that a majority of its funds are kept on computers that do not have internet access. The hacked amount was just a fraction of coins that are missing. Bitstamp customers were asked not to make any deposits to previously issued bitcoin addresses to prevent further loss. They also claimed that the balances, “prior to our temporary suspension of services, will not be affected and will be honored in full.”
Image Source: Twitter – Damijan (Left/Co-Founder & CTO at Bitstamp) Nejc (Middle/Co-Founder & CEO at Bitstamp) at Europas Awards
They have yet to reveal the details about the suspects but in the meantime, CEO Nejc Kodric apologized to his loyal customers, here is his full statement:
“Bitstamp customers can rest assured that their bitcoins held with us prior to temporary suspension of services on January 5th (at 9am UTC) are completely safe and will be honored in full.
Though, some of Bitstamp’s operational wallets were compromised, resulting in a loss of less than 19,000 BTC. Upon learning of the breach, we immediately notified all customers that they should no longer make deposits to previously issued Bitcoin deposit addresses. As an additional security measure, we suspended our systems while we fully investigate the incident and actively engage with law enforcement officials.
This breach represents a small fraction of Bitstamp’s total Bitcoin reserves, the overwhelming majority of which are are held in secure offline cold storage systems. We would like to reassure all Bitstamp customers that their balances held prior to our temporary suspension of services will not be affected and will be honored in full.
We appreciate customers’ patience during this disruption of services. We are working to transfer a secure backup of the Bitstamp site onto a new safe environment and will be bringing this online in the coming days. Customers can stay informed via updates on our website, on Twitter (@Bitstamp) and through Bitstamp customer support at [email protected].”
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