Bitfinex representatives confirmed 119,756 BTC (more than $60m) has been lost or stolen from the exchange.
Bifinex is a Hong Kong based digital currency exchange. On 2nd of August 2016, Bitfinex has taken its trading platform offline following a reported hack that resulted in the theft of customer funds.
According to a statement posted on its website, Bitfinex has suspended trading, deposits and withdrawals.
Bifinex said:
"We are investigating the breach to determine what happened, but we know that some of our users have had their bitcoins stolen. We are undertaking a review to determine which users have been affected by the breach. While we conduct this initial investigation and secure our environment, Bitfinex.com will be taken down and the maintenance page will be left up."
The exchange, which trades a number of digital currencies, said that only its bitcoin accounts were impacted. Further, Bitfinex indicated that it may move to settle certain financed trading positions that were active when the breached reportedly occurred.
"As we account for individualized customer losses, we may need to settle open margin positions, associated financing, and/or collateral affected by the breach," the statement read. "Any settlements will be at the current market prices as of 18:00 UTC."
The exchange suffered a security incident last May, when its hot wallet – a wallet containing bitcoin funds connected to the Internet – was targeted. This year has thus far seen other exchange services, including ShapeShift and Gatecoin, experience losses as a result of security breaches.
The recent drop in BTC price (from $660 to $550) might have been caused because of this event. As people may have sold their BTC in panic.
Were you one of those who had their Bitcoins on Bitfinex when this trajic event took place? I am. This is a lesson for all of us, Never Keep Your Funds in an Exchange Always Withdraw Them To Your Own Wallet!!