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Hackers hit South Korean cryptocurrency exchange for $31.5M

It's the country's second cryptoexchange to fall victim to cybercriminals in less than 10 days.

Zoey Chong Reporter
Zoey is CNET's Asia News Reporter based in Singapore. She prefers variety to monotony and owns an Android mobile device, a Windows PC and Apple's MacBook Pro all at the same time. Outside of the office, she can be found binging on Korean variety shows, if not chilling out with a book at a café recommended by a friend.
Zoey Chong
SKOREA-NKOREA-POLITICS-CYBERCRIME-HACKING

Bithumb lost millions-worth of cryptocurrency in a cyberattack.

Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images

Cybercriminals haven't been very kind to South Korea's cryptoexchanges recently.

About 35 billion won (roughly $31.6 million) worth of virtual currency was stolen in a hack on South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb, Reuters reported Tuesday.

Bithumb is listed as the world's sixth busiest exchange on Coinmarketcap.com.

The attack is the second to hit a crytopexchange in the country in 10 days. Last week Coinrail lost about 30 percent of its coins to hackers, which then saw the value of  Bitcoin tumble to a two-month low. At time of writing, cryptocurrency news service Coindesk recorded a nearly 2 percent drop in Bitcoin value from Tuesday.

Following the attack, Bithumb has stored all assets in "safe cold wallets," according to Reuters. The exchange will fully compensate its clients.

Although Bithumb might not be keen to advertise the loss, deleting its initial tweet announcing the hack and promise of compensation.

South Korea is no stranger to cyberheists, with its Northern counterpart accused of having masterminded an attack that resulted in the theft of 70 Monero coins last summer.

CNET has reached out to Bithumb for a comment.

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