Hot wallet funds of the Switzerland-based exchange have been stolen by hackers. However, no customer funds have been compromised, says the company. It promises to use the opportunity for a build-up.

In a Reddit message published last night, Eric Voorhees, CEO of ShapeShift, promised to provide more details about the hacker attack that took place on 7 April later. The web-site, he wrote, would stay offline “for at least another 48 hours” needed by the company to recover the platform.

“There is no danger or risk that ShapeShift will not be coming back online, but it needs to be done with diligence. We are learning some interesting things. I'd like to sincerely thank many in the industry who reached out to us, offering to help and providing valuable intelligence. It has been heartwarming, to say the least.”

According to an earlier Reddit message by Voorhees, the company’s server infrastructure “was compromised and threatened.” Voorhees said the company would use the opportunity “to build even bigger, better, and more resilient infrastructure.” Putting the service offline was chosen because of its being “the safer path.”

Those who had pending orders on the platform are promised to get the funds back within 24 hours.

According to ShapeShift's CEO, hackers have stolen an unspecified part of hot wallet funds. Still, the consumers’ money is claimed to never be at risk — “even in the case of a security breach” — thanks to the platform's built-in customer protection mechanism.

The company argues that “hacks may be inevitable, but customer losses should not be.”

Located in Zug, Switzerland, ShapeShift specializes in bitcoin / altcoin exchange, allowing customers to exchange digital currencies without an account or a sign up process.

In summer 2015 the company withdrew all its services from New York, calling it “a moral and ethical stand” against the new legislation, namely, so-called BitLicense. The company compensated for the losses by the introduction of new coins, becoming, inter alia, the first exchange to incorporate Ether.

In September, ShapeShift raised $1.6 million, Roger Ver and Bruce Fenton being among the investors.

Alexey Tereshchenko