14 DAY TRIAL // Bitstamp announced that the compromise of the crypto-currency wallets that occurred on Sunday resulted in a loss of less than 19,000 bitcoins, which would be about $5 / €4.4 million, depending on exchange fluctuations.
On Monday, the company suspended its services as it determined that its operational wallets had been accessed without authorization over the weekend. These wallets hold the capital needed for daily exchange operations.
Law enforcement is now investigating the incident
The method of the intrusion was not disclosed, but customers received assurance that their digital money was not in any danger if deposits were made before 09:00 UTC on January 5, 2015. The same applies for any deposits made after this time and date.
On Tuesday, Bitstamp released a new statement, informing of the approximate number of bitcoins that have been stolen and that an internal investigation has been deployed. Law enforcement is also engaged in the inquiry of the incident.
“On January 4th, some of Bitstamp’s operational wallets were compromised, resulting in a loss of less than 19,000 BTC. Upon learning of the breach, we immediately notified all customers that they should no longer make deposits to previously issued bitcoin deposit addresses,” Bitstamp says.
The company continued to reassure customers that the loss is only a small fraction of the money stored offline and that the balances held before the temporary service suspension would remain unaffected.
Large bitcoin transaction spotted on Sunday
Customers are advised to make deposits only on the newly issued bitcoin addresses in order to make sure that their money is safe. No transaction made to addresses issued before the suspension of the service can be honored, Bitstamp warned.
The service is still down at the moment as Bitstamp works to restore a safe backup of the website; company representatives said that the entire process should be completed in the coming days.
It appears that a large transaction has been recorded on Sunday morning, different amounts of bitcoins being exchanged, totaling 134 operations at the moment, the final balance being a little over 18,870 BTC. This would fit the information about the hack provided by Bitstamp, but there is no official confirmation that this is related to the incident.
