A famous Seoul-based Bitcoin exchange company known as Youbit announced at around 4:34 a.m. local time, that it was struck by a severe hacking attack which caused it to lose nearly one-fifth of its Bitcoin assets. What is shocking is that it’s the second consecutive time this year that Youbit has been hit by professional hackers. In this year, April was another month of curse for the company when robbers were able to claim almost 35 million dollars which amount to approximately 38 billion won. Youbit announced this in the following words:
“Due to bankruptcy, the settlement of cash and coins will be carried out in accordance with all bankruptcy procedures. However, in order to minimize the damage to our members, we will arrange for the withdrawal of approximately 75 percent of the balance at 4:00 a.m. on Dec 19. The rest of the unpaid portion will be paid after the final settlement is completed. We will do our best to minimize the loss of our members by 17 percent, through various methods such as cyber comprehensive insurance (3 billion [won]) and selling the operating rights of the company.”
The exchange added that the hackers did not manage to steal all the digital cash it held because a lot was lodged in a “cold wallet” which is a term used for the bitcoin currency not under trade.
Following this major South Korea Bitcoin hack, South’s Korea Internet and Security Agency said on Wednesday that it was working with law enforcement agencies to go into details and interrogate about the current week’s Youbit hack. Youbit said that its clients would get back around seventy five percent of the value they had put away in accounts with the exchange.
The South Korea Bitcoin hack has come at a stage when Bitcoin currency is going through a tough time. Recent attacks on Bitcoin exchange companies include 70 million dollars heist of Nicehash followed by the 60 million dollar hack of Bitfinex.
Regarding this matter, Tim Wellsmore, director of threat intelligence at cybersecurity firm FireEye quoted:
“As the prices of bitcoin and similar virtual currencies continue to appreciate, we expect greater interest from attackers seeking to steal it.”
The great interest of hackers in Bitcoin currency is due to the fact that its value has increased 15 times this year! Furthermore, South Korea has turned into a hot marketplace of Bitcoin exchange. On a given day, South Korea can represent around 20% of overall exchange of digital currency.
Due to the severity of cryptocurrency hacking issues, governments globally have considered forming a special task force to study the cryptocurrency hacking trend.
Stay tuned to our website to hear more about the South Korea Bitcoin hack.
