Hackers steal around $61 million from Bitcoin exchange

[Scorpus]

Bitcoin exchange Bitfinex has been hacked, with thieves stealing approximately 119,756 bitcoin – worth $61 million at current exchange rates – from user accounts. To limit any further damage and investigate the hack, Bitfinex has suspended their operations.

It's not clear how the hackers managed to bypass Bitfinex's security systems, including a limit on withdrawals, so it may take some time for the exchange to investigate. Bitfinex will also be examining which accounts were affected by the theft, and has confirmed that all losses were limited to just bitcoin wallets.

Bitfinex released this statement regarding how they will address the theft:

As we account for individualized customer losses, we may need to settle open margin positions, associated financing, and/or collateral affected by the breach. Any settlements will be at the current market prices as of 18:00 UTC. We are taking this necessary accounting step to normalize account balances with the objective of resuming operations. We will look at various options to address customer losses later in the investigation.

Whether or not Bitfinex can afford to compensate users more than 100,000 bitcoin remains to be seen.

Bitfinex community director Zane Tackett has been active on Reddit discussing the breach, and suggests that the hackers used a sophisticated system to compromise complex multi-factor bitcoin security. He is also confident it wasn't an inside job after speaking to his small team.

As a result of the theft, Bitcoin prices have fallen significantly over the past few hours. People are clearly worried about the security of their bitcoin, and this devastating theft could have wide ramifications for the entire bitcoin community.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/65828-hackers-steal-around-61-million-bitcoin-exchange.html

 

[risc32]

Crickets? Do I hear crickets?
seriously, if you are foolish enough to get behind bitcoin, well.... As t swift says, haters gunna hate, and looters gunna loot.

 

[davislane1]

Crickets? Do I hear crickets?
seriously, if you are foolish enough to get behind bitcoin, well.... As t swift says, haters gunna hate, and looters gunna loot.

If you're foolish enough to get behind government-backed paper, well... as every real estate guy will tell you: joke's on you.

 

[BSim500]

If you're foolish enough to get behind government-backed paper, well... as every real estate guy will tell you: joke's on you.

I think his point is, if the only "excuse" Bitcoin has is "two wrongs make a right" then it's just as worthless as the "fiat" it claims to safeguard against. At least govt paper has the weight of the military behind it / ability to borrow against the national economy / issue national bonds / Federal "insurance" in the event any single bank gets robbed, etc, even if the currency itself isn't a 100% pure gold standard. Bitcoin is literally 100% unbacked intangible thin air in its purist form.

 

[davislane1]

Bitcoin is literally 100% unbacked intangible thin air in its purist form.

Billions of dollars of 100% unbacked intangible assets change hands each and every day on domestic and international financial exchanges. Bitcoin is simply another instrument.

My point is that the Bitcoin fanboys and haters alike think Bitcoin is the gold-standard of X. It isn't. Not by a long shot.

 

[daThomas]

Crickets? Do I hear crickets?
seriously, if you are foolish enough to get behind bitcoin, well.... As t swift says, haters gunna hate, and looters gunna loot.

You really have no idea what you're talking about do you?

 

[cliffordcooley]

My point is that the Bitcoin fanboys and haters alike think Bitcoin is the gold-standard of X. It isn't. Not by a long shot.

Lets just put it this way. I may use Bitcoin for on the fly transactions. Investing in Bitcoins I'll never do, because the currency by nature is unstable.

 

[yRaz]

Bitcoins strength is the fact THAT YOU DONT NEED TO KEEP IT IN A BANK. Bitcoin was designed to take the power away from the banks, why are these people willingly defeating the purpose of bitcoin? Its far from the first hack or bitcoin theft I these exchanges, why do people keep putting bitcoin in them and act surprised when they get hacked? These exchanges are major targets for hackers, this isn't new or surprising.

 

[Jack007]

The best medium to secure yourself is what was used way way back in the days. Gold. doesnt lose value cant lose value and is beyond the reach of any paper currency when an economy collapses. Any part of the world you go gold has value and demands respect.

 

[davislane1]

The best medium to secure yourself is what was used way way back in the days. Gold. doesnt lose value cant lose value and is beyond the reach of any paper currency when an economy collapses. Any part of the world you go gold has value and demands respect.

Long/short paper gold for short-term gains. Buy and hold the physical stuff.

Alternatively: oil speculation...rolled into long term gold positions.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[J spot]

From what I've read the Commodity Futures Trading Commission forced this exchange, and I'm assuming others, from keeping their customer's bitcoins in cold, offline storage. To protect them of course. And this was probably the main reason why it was targeted. That kind of annoys me, for logical reasons, because it sounds like the idea of someone who doesn't know much about the subject, yet they have the power to force a company to do something extremely risky. Unless someone in power wanted it that way in order to steal Bitcoins. I'm not a conspiracy guy though

 

[treetops]

Everyone who invested in bitcoins pre 2015 made a profit, haters are mad they lacked then insight to invest.

 

[davislane1]

Everyone who invested in bitcoins pre 2015 made a profit, haters are mad they lacked then insight to invest.

Bitcoin seems to be a "buy the dip" asset.

Buy $20, sell at a reasonable gain, wait for dip, buy bigger position, sell, repeat.

 

[cliffordcooley]

What's not to hate about obvious scams? OK I'll admit those are strong words. But that is how I feel about a currency that can't be trusted, to hold the same value tomorrow as it has today.