Summary:The European bitcoin exchange suspends its service after it was hacked, ZDNet can confirm. Less than 19,000 bitcoins were stolen from an operational wallet.<\/p>\n
Bitstamp prices plummeted after news of the breach broke (Screenshot: ZDNet) <\/p>\n
European bitcoin exchange Bitstamp suspended trading Monday after one of its active, operational bitcoin storage wallets was \"compromised\" over the weekend. <\/p>\n
In a statement on its site, Bitstamp warned users not to deposit any Bitcoin to previously issued addresses. <\/p>\n
The popular bitcoin trading site, said to be the world's third busiest bitcoin exchange amounting for 6 percent of all bitcoin transactions, said that a \"small fraction\" of customer bitcoins are maintained in online systems, adding that any compromised bitcoins can be recovered from its \"cold\" offline storage reserve. <\/p>\n
Co-founder and chief executive Nejc Kodric said in a tweet that the bulk of Bitstamp's bitcoin reserves are in cold storage, and are \"completely safe.\" <\/p>\n
The site continued in its statement that it will \"return to service.\" <\/p>\n
Late on Monday, Bitstamp confirmed in an emailed statement to ZDNet that \"less than 19,000 bitcoins\" were stolen from the company's operational wallet. <\/p>\n
Kodric said the bitcoins held with Bitstamp prior to the temporary suspension of the company's service are \"completely safe and will be honored in full.\" <\/p>\n
The market value of 19,000 bitcoins represents roughly $5 million. (We reported this figure earlier, details of which can be found below.) There has been no other comment as of yet from Bitstamp or Kodric. <\/p>\n
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Read the original: Summary:The European bitcoin exchange suspends its service after it was hacked, ZDNet can confirm. Less than 19,000 bitcoins were stolen from an operational wallet. Continue reading
\nBitstamp exchange hacked, $5M worth of bitcoin stolen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"