Bitcoin Forum

Any suggestions when we see it again or we should start a crowdfunding company for a sniper?

it is not surprising at all, this is not the first down of btc-e, and sure was not the last one. no one knows when will the attack comes by the hacker

There is no signs of hacker attack, it looks more like a technical problem

You shouldn't worry much, BTC-E is a reputable company. It's just an unscheduled maintenance and they already tweeted[1] about it hours ago. Hopefully It won't take longer because people should already start withdrawing their funds from exchanges as the 1st of august is coming.

[1] https://twitter.com/btcecom/status/889918430228492289

Its almost a day since they are down for a unplanned maintenance. They have a history of doing this for, unfortunately this is the longest downtime as far as I can recall. But we don't need to panic though, I don't believed that they are hacked either. I guess for people who have funds in there, this is a very nervous thing. All we can do is to hope than everything will be fine. I just follow their twitter account if I were you to get updated.

Look at reddits discussion many speculate a hack:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/6pkjny/and_while_btce_is_down_some_169m_bitcoin_fortune/
This is the wallet:
https://live.blockcypher.com/btc/tx/fd5cbd2c752ccb9e860240da4c8169214055f84884250972e01df863354436c9/

Might be a hack.
Also notice the btc rate freefalling since btc-e is closed.
I am very sure about a hack or exit scam.
Things like that had always hit the rates, so some people know that already or the coins are already for sale.

i have around 400 litecoins there and an additional $3k in fiat. this can't be just a regular unscheduled maintenance considering how long it takes. at first it might have looked like that, but now the fear amongst people is starting to creep in (i am not an exception). what makes things even worse is the lack of proper communication from btc-e.

It is not their first unscheduled maintenance and it will not be the last one. Its good to stay with better services than BTC-E. There are lots of rumors going around but I hope they will be back soon. The Reddit discussions are floating around with lots of allegations and rumors.

I hope it lives and has a policy to compensate for the thrill of the members.

Admin arrested in Greece! http://www.reuters.com/article/us-greece-russia-arrest-idUSKBN1AB1OP?il=0 (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-greece-russia-arrest-idUSKBN1AB1OP?il=0)  :(

"As for where the criminals are cashing out, 95 per cent of ransom funds were cashed out at the Russian exchange BTC-E. That chimes with the indication that the biggest ransomware types are the produce of the biggest organized criminal gangs working out of Russia."



https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2017/07/25/google-ransomware-multi-million-dollar-business-with-locky-and-cerber/#2cad57196caf

Admin on btce arrested ?

Maybe they are just preparing for the upcoming event. Or else some of thier not working properly that is why they made server maintenance immediately.

If it is staying like this, does it mean Bitcoin will go up as when MT.Gox wen't down??

Just read about it from a post on another media site:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-exchange-btc-e-still-offline-as-laundering-theories-begin-to-surface
I would be a little concerned if i held any of my coins there.

Confirmed, he is indeed a key man from BTC-E.
The time when doing illegal stuff online with crypto is coming to an end, it appears. I have also read that this man was laundering the money from Mt.Gox.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-greece-russia-arrest-bitcoin-idUKKBN1AB27Y?il=0

If they really are down due to moneylaundering concerns it will be a serious blow to bitcoin.

We survived Mt.Gox.

Nothing can stop us, 1 BTC will always be 1 BTC (at least). :D

Why? Is there a connection between btc-e.com and Bitcoin? The latter is a digital currency while btc-e.com is a virtual currency exchange or a deposit collector for real money. I think they're not related.

http://blog.wizsec.jp/2017/07/breaking-open-mtgox-1.html

Newest tweet @ around 18:43 UTC july 27:

Update2: Ha дaнный мoмeнт вeдyтcя paбoты пo вoccтaнoвлeнию paбoты cepвиca. Пpимepныe cpoки oт 5 дo 10 днeй. Cпacибo зa пoнимaниe

From Google translate:

Update2: At the moment, work is underway to restore the service. Approximate terms from 5 to 10 days. Thank you for understanding

Btc-e servers are in russia. Russia's policies are very different from those of western nations. They don't support massive numbers of illegal immigrants migrating into russia. They chose to embrace technologies like blockchain. The opposite of what the united states is doing with senate bill 1241. I think russia also does not have the restrictive and oppressive programs implemented by the west to "prevent" money laundering.

Truth be told, HSBC bank has been caught laundering money for drug cartels, terrorists and other illicit groups for more than a decade. Its easy to find evidence proving this via google. No effort has ever been made to stop them.

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/russian-national-and-bitcoin-exchange-charged-21-count-indictment-operating-alleged
Thanks to FBI and i hope to see my (not so big) money soon

Wishful thinking. BTC-e are not in the US.

I thought the have seized it or have a plans to do so?

You can't seize crypto, that's the whole point. The person that has the private keys is the only one with access.

They could freeze the fiat bank accounts, but even then, BTC-e was not operating in the US, it's in Bulgaria part of the EU, so how do they make US charges stick?  If BTC-e had an office in the US that's would count, but the don't.

I know the basics of crypto. I thought they already have access to private keys

Heard they are infact in Russia so not all laws apply to those citizens and companies there as they would if they were in the us.
Remember most if not all the major hackers have ties in Russia.
Just look at the wannacry creators.
Those are the biggest hackers out there since they have tools the fbi use so they know all their tricks and secrets already if they want to hack them and their sites.

So its finally confirmed that the owner of BTC-e was already arrested of suspicion of money laundering. And the hacked funds from Mt. Gox was being liquidated on BTC-e exchange. So I think that the case is strong now and sad to say that we won't see BTC-e soon. So if you have funds in that exchange, its gonna be bye bye. Although I'm not sure if the servers are located in Russia, if it is then US could have a hard time getting it for forensics to help them in their investigations.

Nobody knows for sure where the servers were located. It is likely that the US authorities seized servers, but the easiest servers to locate could easily just have been running scripts back to remote servers (location unknown to the authorities). They are unlikely to be in Russia, as the Russian Federation banned BTC-E -- this is why Russians mainly use btc-e.nz rather than the .com domain.

BTC-E ban means nothing in Russia and their fiat connections are strong with russians(from Russia & Czech Republic). I've posted a lot info, mostly in russian thread(https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2045826)
Today we still have xBTCe, for sure they are affiliated with BTC-E(in fact it's the same people trying to hide behind it). I hope FBI already working on how to catch and judge this people right in CZ (blink), they also can hide on russian territory. The most important is that even ISIS possibly(!) can be financed with BTC-E(xBTCe) money scheme. The most sad fact is that miners and traders lost they money for nothing, and I am one of them. Ciao, BTC-E!

ISIS has been funded through mainline BANKS since it started.

Okay, now we have 2 transactions from main BTC-E Ethereum address (https://etherscan.io/address/0x8eb3fa7907ad2ef4c7e3ba4b1d2f2aac6f4b5ae6)

It's all been moved... but that still doesn't mean anything. The authorities could have moved it. Or BTC-e admins could have moved it. Or it could have been a dead man's switch / new automatic wallet creation. We really have no idea.

We'll see if the US government announces seizure of funds at some point... it's pretty embarrassing for them if they don't.

This is what I do really want to know or read on whos the one who moved those funds. Either the admin of btc-e or the government,no one really knows. If those funds are moved by government then say goodbye for those bitcoins from its users. Until now theres no word yet from them regarding on the latest update about this issue. I know its really hard to accept if those funds are already gone.

The sad thing is that we all must accept this loss and move on, I think. If you were the owners, would you relaunch, and start playing a cat-and-mouse game with US law enforcement? They were a very big exchange with millions of users and lots of fiat and crypto liabilities. I hate to say it, but I just don't think relaunching is sensible from the perspective of the current owners/admins. The only way I see it working is if, by some miracle, the Russian government steps in to protect its residents on the exchange. But that's unlikely, since Russia banned BTC-e.com long ago to its residents...

Yeah. Basically BTC-e got seize by the feds. They are saying on their official twitter page that the site will be up in about 10 days maximum time but i really really doubt it. This was bound to happen though because they were simply violating way too many KYC laws and AML laws.

The situation though is pretty much still quite unknown... All we know is that nobody can redeem BTC-e codes anymore, and nobody can access the funds. All you can do is to hope for the best but prepare for the worst.

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This is another reason you should NOT use exchanges as a wallet to store your funds with. I mean that's just stupid when you can hold your own private keys in a desktop wallet, you're taking an unnecessary risk.

I honestly never saw it that way, since KYC was always required to move fiat money off the site. If this is true, then Bitfinex and Kraken must be at risk for similar action, because they (like BTC-e) allow unverified users to deposit/withdraw crypto and trade fiat markets, and they also allow US residents.

Yes, the desktop wallet is more secure than using exchanges as a wallet in storing fund, but since desktop wallet is still connected to the internet then I
think it's still unsafe. Well, it's okay if you're just storing a small amount of Bitcoin and other digital currencies but for a larger amount of Bitcoin, I would
recommend using hardware wallet, something like TREZOR, Ledger Nano S, and KeepKey.

I can be that guy who will represent the interests of all victims. I can move around the Europe and US, meet with lawyers, help with documents and keep up do date everybody.
My benefits in it is you pay for a visas, tickets, accomodation and food(i'm okay to live in hostels)