[2016-08-06] Video: Bitcoin Plunges, Rebounds After Hackers Steal $65 Million

[LiteCoinGuy]

Bitcoin Plunges, Rebounds After Hackers Steal $65 Million

http://bloombergtv.ca/2016-08-03/news/t ... 5-million/

[ronnieb]

Bitcoin Plunges, Rebounds After Hackers Steal $65 Million

http://bloombergtv.ca/2016-08-03/news/t ... 5-million/

From The Site:

Bitcoin plunged, then erased losses Wednesday as one of the largest exchanges halted trading because hackers stole about $65 million of the digital currency.

Bitcoin was little changed against the dollar as of 10:03 a.m. on Wednesday in New York, after sinking as much as 15 percent. Prices dropped 7.8 percent on Tuesday after declining 6.2 percent Monday.

Hong Kong-based exchange Bitfinex said Tuesday it halted trading, withdrawals and deposits after discovering the security breach. The exchange said it was still investigating details and cooperating with law enforcement, but acknowledged some bitcoins were stolen from its users.

“Yes — it is a large breach,” Fred Ehrsam, co-founder of Coinbase, a cryptocurrency wallet and trading platform, wrote in an e-mail. “Bitfinex is a large exchange, so it is a significant short-term event, although Bitcoin has shown its resiliency to these sorts of events in the past.”

For a QuickTake explainer on bitcoin, click here

Bitfinex confirmed in a message to Bloomberg News on Wednesday that the hackers took 119,756 bitcoin, or about $65 million. While trading was halted in all digital currencies, including ethereum, the exchange said losses were limited only to bitcoin. It also said U.S. dollar deposits were not impacted.

Great share thanks!!

My Questions for the public

1. So do we have any more details?
2. Was this from a single hot wallet?
3. How likely that this is an inside job either 100% or partially facilitated from the inside like the ShapeShift Heist?
4. I feel like these hacks are pretty easy to thwart or reduce heavily... I mean for starters why have so much BTC in a single wallet (unless I'm mistaken here)

From the site:

“Since we now enforce multi-institutional second factor authentication (Bitfinex will be the first factor and BitGo the second factor), attackers are required to compromise both institutions before getting funds,” Bitfinex wrote on its support page after the partnership was announced.

what do you think? If this is not an inside job, then I think the above quote (we may find out) might not be 100% accurate???

The blame of the price drop is on this hack? It seems like there were some other reasons for the price drop like the Ethereum Hard Fork and the opportunity to invest in two coins... Also the Chinese Mining Meeting with Blockstream. I don't know that this is responsible for 100% of the drop.