Technology

Bithumb, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, loses $30 million to hackers

The theft totals over 35 billion South Korean won.

June 20, 2018

Bithumb is one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world.

Bithumb, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has lost more than $30 million to hackers, the exchange announced on Tuesday.

The enormous theft comes one year after hackers believed to have ties to North Korea stole over $7 million from the same exchange in 2017.

[Notice for the temporary suspension of the deposits]
Due to the increasing safety issues, we are changing our wallet system.
Please do not deposit until we notify.
*All deposits are not deposited into your wallet until all changes are completed.

— Bithumb (@BithumbOfficial) June 20, 2018

The heist totals over 35 billion South Korean won.

“Members should immediately discontinue depositing,” exchange administrators wrote in a statement on Tuesday.

The theft took place within the some time between Monday and Tuesday, according to Bithumb. All customer losses are going to be covered by the exchange’s own reserves, but no further detail was provided on how or when that will occur. The exchange was shut down immediately and remaining funds were moved to an offline wallet.

The prices of cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, Ripple, Ethereum and Litecoin all dropped as much as 2 percent in the immediate aftermath.