South Korea’s Bithumb cryptocurrency exchange said Thursday that it may be able to reduce the financial damage arising from a multi-million dollar hack earlier this week.
In an update on its website, the firm said that although it has reported losses equivalent to $31.5 million to the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA), it may ultimately be able to lower that figure.
The exchange stated:
“We have announced about 35 billion Korean won of damages … Bithumb is reducing the amount of damage through ongoing damage recovery, future figures are expected to be lower.”
It explained that it was working with cryptocurrency exchanges and others to prevent further losses and retrieve the funds.
Further adding that the exchange keeps company and customer funds separately, the update said: “The company believes that you can use Bithumb safely.”
News of the hack broke Wednesday after Bithumb confirmed that attackers had managed to access their systems and stolen the millions in cryptocurrency. So far the firm has provided no details on how the attack was carried out or which cryptos and in what amounts were taken, although XRP is believed to have been targeted.
The company did reassure customers that the remaining assets had been moved to offline cold wallets as a security measure and that it has halted all deposits and withdrawals for the time being.
In what is likely welcome news for customers, Bithumb has also stated that it would cover the losses arising from the breach from its own reserves.
In a press release issued today, the Korea Blockchain Association, a self-regulatory group comprised of exchanges and blockchain startups, called the hack “embarrassing,” but added that exchanges taking on hacking losses is “a good way to protect our users.”
The association continued to say: “We will continue to establish standards for user protection such as security, standard conditions and dispute settlement procedures that cryptocurrency exchanges should have. “
According to today’s update, the agencies that are helping investigate the causes of the breach include the Korea Communications Commission, KISA and the National Police Agency.
Note: Statements in this article have been translated from Korean.
Korean won image via Shutterstock
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