It seems yet another bitcoin exchange has been targeted by malicious hackers. This time, it was Hong Kong based Gatecoin.
In a tweet sent out less than an hour ago, Gatecoin issued a statement alerting users that they were hacked and their website is down with a high risk of their hot wallets being compromised.
Alert: our website is down due to a high risk of leak in some of our hotwallets.
— Gatecoin (@Gatecoin) May 13, 2016
Gatecoin is supposed to be storing most of their customer bitcoins in multisignature cold storage, however, the percentage isn’t clear on how much is in cold storage and in their hot wallets. Gatecoin is investigating the issue but the outcome is already looking grim, as they followed up with another tweet saying they will “ensure to get all the funds back to our users.”
Just earlier today another bitcoin exchange SimpleFX was targeted by hackers, but only their email service was compromised that we’re aware of (at this time). The worrying trend of bitcoin exchanges being targeted by hackers is growing more and more lately.
Update: Thomas Glucksmann marketing manager from Gatecoin provided an official comment on the hack stating,
Last night Asia time, we suspected a potential leak on our hot wallets. Therefore, we decided to shut down the exchange and ports in order to minimise further potential losses, and we are conducting a full forensic investigation to identify the root of the issue. This is why Gatecoin’s user interface and API are currently offline.
Please be sure that we will do our best effort to investigate, fix the issue ASAP and we will cover for the potential losses. We store 95% of users’ crypto-asset funds in multi-sig cold storage vaults, so your funds are safe.
Please accept our deepest apologies for this disruption. We will keep you regularly updated on the progress made by our team.
