14 DAY TRIAL // Bitfinex, the Bitcoin trading platform based in Hong Kong, has announced that it will be spreading the losses from the recent cyber-heist among all of its users and will be applying the 119,756 Bitcoin ($67.47 million) cost to all accounts, not just those who actually lost funds.
The platform said that every user would lose 36.067% from their account's balance. Until the company discovers how the Bitcoin was stolen and recovers it, users will receive new tokens on the Omni protocol with the shortcode "BFX."
This token is priced at $1 and can be traded in shares of iFinex Inc, the company behind Bitfinex, or kept until Bitfinex recovers the money and later traded back for the confiscated Bitcoin.
As you'd expect, the company's announcement wasn't very popular, and users were quick to remind everyone that Raphael Nicolle, Bitfinex's founder, was one of the people who supported Trendon Shavers, the author of the biggest Bitcoin Ponzi schemes in history, recently sent to jail for 18 months.
Bitfinex heist is the second largest in Bitcoin history
The Bitfinex heist was the second largest Bitcoin theft in history, after Mt. Gox. The attacker stole 0.75 percent of all the Bitcoin available on the market today.
Despite the massive amount of money stolen in the heist, Bitfinex's downtime lasted only a week, and the company announced it would be bringing back its services online starting today.
As a side note, Gatecoin, another Bitcoin trader that lost $2 million worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum in a similar incident in mid-May, announced it would be restarting its service, but next week, on August 17.
Bitfinex also said users would have to reset their passwords when the service comes back online and also warned users not to fall for any phishing schemes that might try to obtain their Bitfinex login credentials.