On the 29th of March, the cryptocurrency exchange platform Bithumb, noticed a large withdrawal of funds. After further investigation by Bithumb it was found that three million EOS, worth around $13.4 million, and 20 million Ripple coins (XRP), worth nearly $6 million, was stolen from the company’s wallet. All deposits and withdrawals were blocked by Bithumb after this was discovered. This is good news for members because none of the money was stolen from them due to their assets being secured in a cold wallet. It is believed that the event was caused by an accident involving employees. A Bithumb representative made a statement regarding the matter claiming “Bithumb exchange is certified ISMS and applied to multi-signature withdrawal scheme. We constantly monitor and block external hacking. However, it was our fault that we only focused on defense of outside attack and lack of verification of internal staff.” The company is now working with KISA, Cyber Police Agency, and other big crypto exchange platforms in an attempt to retrieve the stolen funds.
Analyst Notes
Companies like this should work to implement an internal verification system that would prevent accidents like this happening. Cold wallets should also be used to keep a large amount of the funds secure offline.
