Bithumb, the world’s fourth-largest Bitcoin, and Ether exchange platform has been hacked again – This time, hackers have stolen a whopping amount of 35 billion South Korean Won (around $31 million).
According to the limited details given by the company, the breach took place between Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning. The company has moved the remaining assets to a cold wallet, which means they have been cut off from the Internet for security.
Bithumb is urging investors to discontinue depositing cryptocurrencies until further notice since withdrawals have been halted. “Due to a security check on deposit/withdrawal services, cryptocurrency deposit/withdrawal and KRW withdrawal service will be halted for time being and services are thoroughly reviewed,” said Bithumb in a statement on its website.
*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
Although it is unclear how the exchange was hacked this time, in July last year, Bithumb suffered a massive data breach in which billions of Won were stolen. Furthermore, the personal details of over 30,000 victims including the victims’ names, phone numbers, and email address were also stolen.
Moreover, In April last year, another South Korean Bitcoin exchange Yapizon was hacked and 3816.2028 Bitcoin (US$5 million) were stolen. In such hacks, it is almost impossible to track the culprits however in September 2017, South Korea blamed North Korean hackers for hacking four virtual currency exchanges in Seoul and stealing Bitcoin.
For more updates on the hack and related development follow Bithumb on Twitter.
