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Bithumb Says It Detected Abnormal Withdrawals From Its Exchange

Bithumb Says It Detected Abnormal Withdrawals From Its Exchange

(Bloomberg) -- South Korea’s Bithumb said it detected abnormal withdrawals of the company’s coins from its cryptocurrency exchange.

The incident was found through the company’s abnormal-trading monitoring system at about 10:15 p.m. in Seoul, it said in a statement. The exchange then halted cryptocurrency deposits and withdrawals and moved investor assets to a so-called cold wallet, which is disconnected from the internet and less vulnerable to theft, and all clients’ coins were safe, according to the exchange.

Bithumb said the incident was most likely caused by an “accident involving insiders” because an external intrusion path hadn’t been revealed after an inspection. The number and total value of the coins that were withdrawn hasn’t been established, a Bithumb spokesman said by phone.

Bithumb was hacked in June and the equivalent of 35 billion won ($30.8 million) of cryptocurrency was stolen. The company is conducting intensive investigations with Korea Internet & Security Agency, Cyber ​​Police Agency and security companies, according to the statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kyungji Cho in Seoul at kcho54@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrew Monahan at amonahan@bloomberg.net, Stanley James, Tom Redmond

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.