Bithumb is one of the biggest exchanges in South Korea and it was reported on June 19th that the exchange was hacked and the amount stolen is reported to be $30 million worth of digital currency.

Hack Happened During Wallet Change

The affected exchange announced that they would be changing their wallet after suspending deposits. The hackers took advantage of this situation and they were successful in hacking into the system and stealing the cryptocurrencies. Change of wallet system is considered as security improvement, but this ended in the hack. After the hack, Bithumb announced that they would be suspending all the deposits and withdrawal to secure their customers’ funds. Below is the note from Bithumb after the hacking incident.

We checked that some of cryptocurrencies valued about $30,000,000 was stolen. Those stolen cryptocurrencies will be covered from Bithumb and all of assets are being transferring to cold wallet.

Reasons for the Hack

The likely reason for the hack is said to be an issue with one of the new wallets. One of the new wallets might have contained malicious code, facilitating the hackers to steal $30 million worth of cryptocurrency. Which cryptocurrencies were stolen has not yet revealed by Bithumb, but it was speculated that it could be Ripple (XRP).

The exchange announced after the hack that all the deposits and withdrawals would be stopped until further notice to improve its security system and only when everything comes under its control.

Korean Authorities Start their Investigation

Korean Ministry for Science and Technology has already started an investigation into this incident. Korean Internet and Security agency also is investigating this incident. They are quite serious this time since this is the third time Bithumb is getting hacked. The exchange is working closely with these authorities to help them understand how the hack happened. Authorities send officers to Bithumb’s headquarters in Seoul for investigation.

Hacked for the Third Time

This is the not first time for the exchange. Previously an employee’s system was compromised and the hacker used the user’s detail from that system and let to leak of 30k user’s details. The data was used by the hackers to make fake calls and messages and few of the customers fell prey to this and lost funds.

Bithumb Deleted its Initial Tweet

It was reported throughout social media channels that Bithumb deleted the initial tweet that promised compensation to the affected customers. So it is very unclear at this stage whether all the customers will be refunded by Bithumb. This has caused a stir on social media.

We strongly hope that Bithumb improves its security protocol and makes sure that the customers’ funds are safe hereafter. Also, Bithumb should compensate the affected customers by refunding all the amount lost.