Bitcoin Exchange Bitfinex Says It Was Hacked, Roughly $60M Stolen (reuters.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Hong Kong-based digital currency exchange Bitfinex said late on Tuesday it has suspended trading on its exchange after it discovered a security breach, according to a company statement on its website. The company said it has also suspended deposits and withdrawals of digital currencies from the exchange. "We are investigating the breach to determine what happened, but we know that some of our users have had their bitcoins stolen," the company said. "We are undertaking a review to determine which users have been affected by the breach. While we conduct this initial investigation and secure our environment, bitfinex.com will be taken down and the maintenance page will be left up." The company said it has reported the theft to law enforcement. It said it has not yet determined the value of digital currencies stolen from customer accounts. CoinDesk reports that the company confirmed roughly 120,000 BTC (more than $60 million) has been stolen via social media. "In response, bitcoin prices fell to $560.16 by 19:30 UTC, $530 by 23:30 and $480 at press time, CoinDesk USD Bitcoin Price Index (BPI) data reveals," reports CoinDesk. "This price was roughly 20% lower than the day's opening of $607.37 and 27% below the high of $658.28 reached on Saturday, July 30th, when the digital currency began pushing lower."

Comments

Seriously? Are people this stupid?

[bobbied]

YET ANOTHER exchange get's taken to the cleaners and looses scads of other folk's coin? Fools and their money are too soon parted.

For Pete's sake folks, DON'T keep your coin on deposit on some exchange, either buy something or convert it back into cash because *all* digital currency things are hacking magnets... And what do you think the hackers do with your coins when they steal them? Why they convert them to cash or buy something ASAP...

Would you keep your money in a bank if they kept getting robbed and YOU where the one who lost? Or if you kept gold coins in their vault and it kept getting broken into would you keep your coins there? No way. So why keep your BitCoin someplace where somebody else provides the security and YOU take the risk? Keep them on your own devices OFF LINE, until you need to use them.

Re:Seriously? Are people this stupid?

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

Would you keep your money in a bank if they kept getting robbed and YOU where the one who lost?

Exactly.

Basically you have to hope that no one robs the exchange, because then you're screwed. And whether it's a real robbery by an outside entity or it's the owners stealing the coins, you're still screwed either way.

This glaring vulnerability has always made me leery of Bitcoin. You bear ALL the risk with no insurance whatsoever. Why would anyone agree to that?

Re:We were hacked, honest

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

I feel like I've heard this story before, from other BitCoin exchanges. I'm sure these guys are super honest and trustworthy, though.

Bitcoin exchanges seem to be hacked on a regular basis. Whether it's a genuine hack or insider funny-business hardly matters at this point. The take-away is that Bitcoin exchanges just aren't a safe place to keep your virtual money, which means there doesn't seem to be a safe place to store virtual money.

Yes yes, I know, "but banks get robbed every day!" the Bitcoin enthusiasts will say.

And that's true, but when a bank gets robbed you don't lose your money. This, to me, is what keeps me away from doing anything with Bitcoin (or any other virtual currency, for that matter). Go ahead, rob my bank. I won't lose any money. When Bitcoin reaches that level of security, then I'll consider it as a viable medium of exchange.

Re:We were hacked, honest

[Kjella]

Bitcoin exchanges seem to be hacked on a regular basis. Whether it's a genuine hack or insider funny-business hardly matters at this point. The take-away is that Bitcoin exchanges just aren't a safe place to keep your virtual money, which means there doesn't seem to be a safe place to store virtual money.

Since we're already using wallet analogies, would you walk around with your life's savings in your wallet? Do you expect all stores to stop handling cash because you got mugged in a back alley or tricked by a pickpocket? Money you have on exchanges is like money you've taken to the marketplace, it's where you can spend them but you also run a risk of losing them. If you want a secure wallet, create a cold storage wallet and burn it to a CD and put it in a bank vault, then you'll have the security of a bank vault. Just make sure that if you ever need it you access it from a secure device, for example a live CD like Tails to transfer as much as needed to a "hot" wallet. Like putting money in the real wallet we once used to have.

Re:We were hacked, honest

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

Since we're already using wallet analogies, would you walk around with your life's savings in your wallet?

No, I use a bank (several banks, actually) to store my money. That way if the bank gets robbed, I still have my money.

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If you want a secure wallet, create a cold storage wallet and burn it to a CD and put it in a bank vault, then you'll have the security of a bank vault

I already have a secure wallet- it's called a "bank vault". That's where my "large" money and certain valuables are stored.

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Just make sure that if you ever need it you access it from a secure device

My "secure device" is a bank vault, backed by the FDIC. Works pretty well, to be honest.