Even as Bitcoin is beginning to shake things up in the US in 2015, all is not well in the cryptocurrency world. China-based Bitcoin exchange Bter was hacked on Valentine’s Day and $1.75 million worth of Bitcoin was stolen.
The company hasn’t revealed much about the breach, except that 7,170 BTC was taken from its cold (offline) wallet on February 14 via this transaction and that the platform is suspending operation until further notice.
The company is offering a bounty of about $170,000 (720 BTC) for “chasing it back” and that it will arrange for withdrawals of the unaffected funds later.
This is the second major Bitcoin hack in the past two months. Slovenian exchange Bitstamp lost about $5 million worth of currency in January but has since recovered. On the flipside, Coinbase launched as the first Bitcoin exchange in the US, ahead of the launch of Lunar, an upcoming exchange fronted by the Winklevoss twins.
With major-league breaches on the rise, the questions surrounding Bitcoin’s future will center more around security in 2015, rather than its adoption by businesses and individuals around the world.
➤ Bter
Image credit: Zach Copley
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