NiceHash Suspends Compensation Payments to Victims of $80 Million Hack

December 19, 2019, by Marko Vidrih on ALTCOIN MAGAZINE

NiceHash’s cryptocurrency mining marketplace announced the suspension of a plan to pay compensation to users who lost assets during a hacker attack in December 2017. Then, over 4,700 BTC worth $80 million was stolen from the platform. In its latest publication, the company reports that it has now paid off 82% of lost funds to users in Bitcoins.

“Unfortunately, NiceHash will not be able to fulfill its promise to fully reimburse all users and achieve the 100% reimbursement status or the Repayment program in the foreseeable future,” writes the company. — “We have been repaying the old balance to our users through our fees and thus cutting our income. Our income and thus Repayment program assets are subject to taxation. The current state of the Repayment program is at 100,04% of the original loss value in our accounting books.”

NiceHash admits that it can resume payments in 2020, “if the market will see a positive development,” but notes that it’s not ready to set specific deadlines at the moment when the debt to users will be fully repaid. The company also reports that it regrets the need to suspend payments, and explains its decision with the desire to remain in business with sufficient profit for future development.

At the time of the NiceHash hack, Bitcoin was trading at about $17,000. Today, the amount of compensation due to customers in fiat currency is about $33 million.

This summer it became known that the FBI has charged the NiceHash founder Matjaž Škorjanc, who is suspected of extortion and conspiracy to commit fraud using electronic communications and fraud in the banking industry.

Author: Marko Vidrih