Cryptsy is down again today, stopping all withdrawals and trading due to ‘an attack’ that it is currently investigating. What might give clients some hope that the situation isn’t terminal this time is that Paul Vernon, who founded Cryptsy, finally broke his silence and released a tweet a few hours ago.

A sign of life comes after rumors started spreading among users that Vernon has fled to China or otherwise disappeared:

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A new phishing attempt is out. It is not from cryptsy. Do not acknowledge it Suggested articles ForexTB Set to Launch New Innovative Trading PlatformGo to article >> — BigVern (@cryptsy) ינואר 13, 2016

Last week the exchange cited lag as the reason for its issues: “Trade engine and withdrawals paused while we investigate cause of lag.” This was after months of clients reporting withdrawal issues in various forums.

Before the cyber attack claims from cryptsy we asked Erik Voorhees, the CEO of ShapeShift.io, for his take on the situation. “We’ve ceased working with Cryptsy (who had been a partner of ours) as of mid December. We’ve been unable to withdraw our balances of coins. I have no idea what is going on there, they have been abysmal about communication with their customers.”

Asked if had any recent content with Vernon or knowledge of his alleged departure from the firm, Voorhees answered: “It’s pretty hard to “be in contact” with any of them, that’s a lot of the problem, they just don’t communicate or answer with any regularity. I have no idea who is at that company, or if anyone left in December.”