Hackers Hit Major South Korean Crypto Exchange for the Third Time; $32M Stolen

Hackers launched an attack on a cryptocurrency exchange firm on Wednesday, where they ended up stealing $32 million worth of cryptocurrencies. The exchange is Bithumb and it’s the largest of its kind in South Korea. Astonishingly enough, this is actually the third time that hackers have hit the firm in 12 months. Hackers also hit another South Korean crypto exchange just two weeks ago, making off with $37 million.

This development is disturbing and disruptive in several aspects, the most relevant of which involves trust in cryptocurrency. Right now, for some observers, the only thing that gives digital coins like Bitcoin or Ethereum value is the belief by people that they do have value. Without that, cryptocurrency wouldn’t be worth a single penny and this is what these hacking incidents are threatening.

In an effort to keep its customer updated, Bithumb has been posting developments via Twitter. As of this writing, the exchange is urging customers not to deposit anything until the matter has been dealt with. The exchange has also promised to compensate clients who were affected by the theft and has placed all crypto assets in an offline storage.

According to local South Korean publication Yonhap News Agency, police are currently looking into the matter. The publication also notes how Coinrail, a much smaller crypto exchange compared to Bithumb, was hacked earlier this month, with the perpetrators stealing a much bigger amount. Apparently, compensation has been slow to come with regards to these incidents.

These incidents have naturally caused the value of cryptocurrencies across the board to drop, Futurism notes. They also highlight the vulnerabilities of the firms holding these digital coins. While crypto transactions do occur via Blockchain, which is believed to be impervious to conventional hacking methods, crypto storage does not. This makes most exchanges vulnerable to getting hacked, as evidenced by what happened to Bithumb.