This article was published on February 14, 2014

Bitcoin exchange Bitstamp says it will enable withdrawals again later today


Bitcoin exchange Bitstamp says it will enable withdrawals again later today

Bitstamp, one of the largest Bitcoin exchanges in the world, plans to enable withdrawals again later today. The Slovenia-based firm suspended this transaction type earlier in the week because of a denial-of-service (DOS) attack.

The Bitcoin exchange says it’s been working with “core” Bitcoin developers on a fix, which has now passed its internal tests and audits. Withdrawals were suspended until further notice last Tuesday (February 14) after it detected a number of “inconsistent results” in its Bitcoind wallet.

Bitstamp has cited “misunderstandings” related to its Bitcoin wallet implementation as the reason why it was vulnerable to a DOS attack. “No funds have been lost and no funds are at risk,” Bitstamp said in a statement.

Mt. Gox, another popular Bitcoin exchange, halted withdrawals indefinitely seven days ago after spotting “unusual activity” on its own Bitcoin wallets. It described the problem as a “bug” which allowed users to claim that a Bitcoin transfer didn’t take place, when in fact it did. This could create a loophole where the payment was sent a second time, incorrectly.

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“Since the transaction appears as if it has not proceeded correctly, the bitcoins may be resent,” Mt. Gox explained.

We have reached out to Mt. Gox to find out whether it’s readying a similar fix for its own Bitcoin exchange and if so, when it hoped to begin processing withdrawals again.

➤ Bitstamp (Statement)

Image Credit: George Frey/Getty Images

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