Hackers abscond with $31 million in cryptocurrencies from massive South Korean cryptocurrency trading platform
- Bithumb, one of South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, announced that hackers took $31 million from its platform earlier this week.
- Two weeks earlier, Coinrail, another South Korea-based cryptocurrency trading platform, said that hackers had taken an estimated $40 million from its funds.
- For now, Bithumb has halted transactions on its site.
One of South Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Bithumb, is the latest cryptocurrency platform to be comprised by hackers. On Tuesday, the company announced that around $31 million in cryptocurrencies had been stolen from its platform, although it's believed that the actual hack took place several days earlier.
For now, Bithumb is suspending transactions on the site. In a tweet, the company urged its customers to hold off on making deposits into their Bithumb wallets.
Bithumb is the second South Korean-based cryptocurrency exchange to be hacked in June alone. Earlier this month, Coinrail, a smaller exchange, announced that hackers took what is estimated to be around $40 million in a mixture of tokens and ether following what the company called a "cyber intrusion."
Bithumb has quickly established itself as one of the fastest-growing trading platforms in South Korea - a country that has become a major hub for cryptocurrency traders in recent months.
The notoriously secretive company is estimated to have around 100,000 traders using the platform at any given minute, and accounts for around 80% of South Korea's ether-based exchanges.
In January, Quartz reported that Bithumb had already suspected North Korean hackers were planning to attack its funds.
For now, Bithumb is moving the remainder of its funds into a cold wallet to avoid further risk.
The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.