China-based Bitcoin exchange Bter has announced that it will continue to operate its service and pay back all its users in time, following a cyberattack that saw the company lose $1.75 million in cryptocurrency to hackers.
Bter says that it managed to trace the stolen 7,170 BTC to a Bitcoin mixer (a cryptocurrency laundering service) called Bitcoin Fog, but hasn’t heard from the company despite repeated attempts to make contact.
In the meantime, Bter has partnered with Jua.com, a Bitcoin wallet service that claims to offer enterprise-class storage, to review the security code on its platform and to rebuild the back-end.
Bter has also entrusted its cold (offline) wallets to Jua.com and plans to eventually hand over its hot wallet services for deposit and withdrawal to the latter as well.
To compensate its customers for losses that arose due to the recent breach, Bter will make payments in batches and additionally offer them half a year’s trading fee in proportion to their Bitcoin loss. In addition, all users will be allowed to trade Bitcoin for free for a month on Bter as a show of thanks.
The company says it will use all its future profits from its Bitcoin exchange and upcoming businesses to first pay back users. Bter claims to have had 230,000 registered users, including 130,000 from China.
While we’ll have to wait and see if Bter can make good on its promise, it’s encouraging to learn that the service will carry on with its operations with purportedly better security measures in place.
➤ Bter Announcement: Continue to operate and pay back to users [Bter]
Image credit: Zach Copley
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