Bitfinex Bitcoin Exchange Lose $61 Million in Hack

With millions traded every day through systems that rely on both the technology and the people acting to secure the environments they trade in, theft can happen. With banks recently reporting a string of thefts through the SWIFT network, it seemed like only a matter of time before digital currencies had similar thefts. It would appear that the Bitcoin exchange Bitfinex is the first to suffer after having roughly $61 million stolen from their system.

The hack appeared to withdraw the money from various accounts, and with no clear reason as to how they managed to get into the system, the accounts would still be open to danger if Bitfinex hadn’t stopped trading in order to block any future thefts.

Bitfinex announced the hack and stated that “The theft is being reported to — and we are co-operating with — law enforcement”. Asking for the communities patience as they try to “unravel the causes and consequences of this breach”.

Bitfinex communities director Zane Tacket estimated the theft at 119,756 bitcoins, with the amount seeming to bypass the mandated limit on withdrawals imposed by Bitfinex.

Stating that the company is “focused on tracing the coins and working with the relevant authorities at this time”, it can only be assumed that their focus is on recovery given that the size of the hack could hit Bitifnex hard and possibly even result in the exchange shutting down.