Home
Internet
Internet News
Bitcoin bank Flexcoin shuts down after hacker attack

Bitcoin bank Flexcoin shuts down after hacker attack

By Reuters | Updated: 5 March 2014 09:25 IST

Bitcoin bank Flexcoin said on Tuesday it was closing down after it lost Bitcoins worth about $600,000 to a hacker attack.

Flexcoin said in a message posted on its website that all 896 Bitcoins stored online were stolen on Sunday.

"As Flexcoin does not have the resources, assets, or otherwise to come back from this loss, we are closing our doors immediately," the company said.

Alberta, Canada-based Flexcoin, which is working with law enforcement agencies to trace the source of the hack, said it would return Bitcoins stored offline, or in "cold storage", to users.

Cold storage coins are held in computers not connected to the Internet and therefore cannot be hacked.

Mt. Gox, once the world's biggest Bitcoin exchange, filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan on Friday, saying it may have lost some 850,000 Bitcoins due to hacking into its faulty computer system.

(Also see: Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange files for bankruptcy, hit with lawsuit)

Flexcoin said on February 25 it was not affected by Mt. Gox's closure. "While the Mt. Gox closure is unfortunate, we at Flexcoin have not lost anything," it had tweeted.

Bitcoin is a digital currency that, unlike conventional money, is bought and sold on a peer-to-peer network independent of central control. Its value soared last year, and the total worth of Bitcoins minted is now about $7 billion.

According to Tuesday's price on Bitstamp, one of the largest exchanges for trading Bitcoins, the crypto-currency was valued at about $668.57.

© Thomson Reuters 2014

Cryptocurrency Prices across Indian exchanges

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.