[Iclickart]
SEOUL -- Bithumb, South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange, stopped transaction services after hackers launched an attack to steal 35 billion won ($31 million) worth of virtual money.
In an English statement posted on its website on Wednesday, the company urged users to stop depositing fund into its digital wallet for a while, apologizing for the inconvenience caused by an attack from hackers. "We notice that between last night and early morning today, about 35 billion won worth cryptocurrencies was stolen."
The cryptocurrency exchange promised to compensate investors for their loss, using its reservoir, saying the assets of customers were securely stored in its cold wallet, a stand-alone digital wallet in the form of storage hardware such as an encrypted USB memory stick. Because it only connects to a network whenever a transaction is needed, cold wallets are relatively safe.
This was the second known attack on Bithumb. Hackers attacked Bithumb in August last year to steal personal information related to about 31,800 users. At the time, Bithumb denied any actual damages, but some users claimed that Bitcoins disappeared from their personal online digital wallets. The Korea Communications Commission, a state watchdog, imposed a fine of 60 million won on the operator of Bithumb for negligence.
In December last year, Youbit, announced the shutdown of transactions, saying it would file for bankruptcy due to losses in coin withdrawal wallets following a series of hacking attacks.
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