Livecoin exchange shuts down its services following December hack

Livecoin cryptocurrency exchange closes following a cyberattack on the platform last month

The Russia-based cryptocurrency exchange Livecoin announced on its official website that it is shutting down its services. Livecoin, while notifying its customers via an alternative domain website, pointed out that it was a hard decision to close the business. However, the platform promised that it will be refunding the users.

Livecoin wrote, “Dear clients, as we reported earlier, our service was under attack in December 2020. Investigation is in active phase right now. Our service has been damaged hard in a technical and financial way“.

Due to the severe damages caused, Livecoin noted that it could not continue an operative business in these conditions. Hence, they are taking the hard decision to close the business and pay the remaining funds to the clients.

The cryptocurrency exchange told users they could contact them via their official email to receive payments after passing the necessary verification process. Livecoin will be accepting claims for repayments for the next two months, and 17 March will be the last day for users to stake their claims.

The cryptocurrency exchange apologised to its users for the inconvenience, urging them to keep calm as they resolve the repayment issue over the next two months.

Last month, Livecoin claimed that it had suffered a carefully planned attack. The attack saw the cryptocurrency exchange lose control of its servers, backend and nodes. Livecoin pleaded with clients to halt deposits and trading on the platform as they couldn’t stop their service in time.

Crypto exchange hacks decline in 2020

Cryptocurrency exchanges have been prone to hacks over the past few years. However, last year, they experienced a breather. Crypto exchange hacking attempts were down by 58% in 2020 from the previous year, with only five major trading platforms experiencing such attacks.

Furthermore, $286,933,760 worth of cryptocurrencies were stolen from exchanges in 2020 last as compared to $292,665,886 in 2019. Analysts believe stricter policies, improved security and relationships with law enforcement officers helped the exchanges to reduce the number of hacks last year.

KuCoin was the most significant cryptocurrency exchange that was targeted by hackers last year. The exchange’s hot wallet was breached, and the attackers stole $275 million worth of cryptocurrencies. However, the exchange was able to recover over 80% of the stolen funds from the hackers.