A major South Korean exchange was hacked recently. It is the largest Ethereum exchange, and the 4th largest Bitcoin exchange (by volume). The exchange is admitting that an employee’s computer was compromised, but claims the central server was never accessed. At this time, the exchange claims that users phone numbers and email addressed were stolen, but not funds. However, users are telling a different story.
Many people are reporting losing all of their funds, upwards to billions of Won (1 billion won = $868,190). Bithump disputes this, and says it will only reimburse 100,000 won per user (around $800). It sounds like the exchange is trying to shift blame to the users, to protect itself legally.
We all know that keeping funds in an exchange is risky, yet so many continue to do so. Perhaps they enjoy the conveyance of it. Maybe they feel like a hack could never happen to them. Well, if you’ve been involved in crypto long enough, you know how risky this mindset can be.
Protect yourself by investing in a hardware wallet. The small upfront cost could save you in the future!