Bitstamp: Less than 19,000 BTC lost !!!

[newIndia]

AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO OUR CUSTOMERS:

January 6, 2015, 12:34am UTC: We have temporarily suspended Bitstamp services. Bitstamp customers can rest assured that their bitcoins held with us prior to temporary suspension of services on January 5th (at 9am UTC) are completely safe and will be honored in full.

On January 4th, some of Bitstamp’s operational wallets were compromised, resulting in a loss of less than 19,000 BTC. Upon learning of the breach, we immediately notified all customers that they should no longer make deposits to previously issued bitcoin deposit addresses. To repeat, customers should NOT make any deposits to previously issued bitcoin deposit addresses. As an additional security measure, we suspended our systems while we fully investigate the incident and actively engage with law enforcement officials.
This breach represents a small fraction of Bitstamp’s total bitcoin reserves, the overwhelming majority of which are held in secure offline cold storage systems. We would like to reassure all Bitstamp customers that their balances held prior to our temporary suspension of services will not be affected and will be honored in full.

We appreciate customers’ patience during this disruption of services. We are working to transfer a secure backup of the Bitstamp site onto a new safe environment and will be bringing this online in the coming days. Customers can stay informed via updates on our website, on Twitter (@Bitstamp) and through Bitstamp customer support at support@bitstamp.net.

- Bitstamp Team

Source: https://www.bitstamp.net

Can they cover it from their cold storage ? 19,000 BTC is equivalent to more than 5 million USD at current market price.

[LiteCoinGuy]

i think they have enough resources to cover that loss. they made millions in fees since they got online (+VC money)

[newIndia]

i think they have enough resources to cover that loss. they made millions in fees since they got online (+VC money)

VC money is not supposed to cover loss. They are supposed to be used to give better return. I'm not sure if that can be used to cover stolen funds from customers.

[Q7]

At least when they disclose the amount, it shows that they are transparent. Hopefully they can recover back and continue to remain in operation.

[mayax]

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=915056.0;all

[LiteCoinGuy]

[mayax]

hahaha

He is laughing in his mind. "Fools, you made me RICH"   

[Amph]

those big exchange always end up like this, with all the money they made, they can at least make a better secure system, instead we have gox 2.0

[flipstyle]

those big exchange always end up like this, with all the money they made, they can at least make a better secure system, instead we have gox 2.0

I don't think the problem is security..it's the admins/ceo's stealing the money.

[fairglu]

At least when they disclose the amount, it shows that they are transparent. Hopefully they can recover back and continue to remain in operation.

https://blockchain.info/address/1L2JsXHPMYuAa9ugvHGLwkdstCPUDemNCf

[mayax]

those big exchange always end up like this, with all the money they made, they can at least make a better secure system, instead we have gox 2.0

I don't think the problem is security..it's the admins/ceo's stealing the money.

I think the same. It's obvious that there are not too many orders lately, real orders not fake transactions and the admins may think :

" it is time to close. How much money do we have? xx millions. Ok, it is enough to spend our life without problems from now on"

[DonQuijote]

hahaha

He is laughing in his mind. "Fools, you made me RICH"   

haha yes, its good for us

[dmugetsu]

That's just their way to attract people

[crazy_rabbit]

My question is why are so many people leaving funds on exchanges like they're banks? We all know this is a possibility.

To trade with, obviously. In my case, I have $$$ on the exchange- you leave it there so that you can buy coins. You have to expose yourself to some risk. Any other day I wouldn't have had anything on stamp but- we all get unlucky sometimes.......

[Force.]

https://blockchain.info/address/1L2JsXHPMYuAa9ugvHGLwkdstCPUDemNCf

Oh my god thats a lot of BTC hope this guy gets caught somehow

[akustik]

Bitsyamp is very big cpmpany
they can pay 19.000 btc easly
allright if they want..

[carlosiness]

again lack of security....

[GonnaGrinditout]

I hope it's not an inside job! 

[ChuckBuck]

My question is why are so many people leaving funds on exchanges like they're banks? We all know this is a possibility.

That's like saying why don't traders withdraw money as soon as they're done trading on their Schwab or Interactive Brokers account.

Yes, Gox happened, and now this, but this type of thing should never ever happen to a legitimate operation.

It's this type of Mickey Mouse/amateur hour shenanigans that continues to give Bitcoin a bad name.

With trading there's always risk involved obviously, but at the same time, that's like saying you'll cash out all your chips at the Casino after 1 or 2 bets only...it's not realistic.  Accounts should've been secured.  Period.

That said, if this is now the norm with Cryptocurrency-centric exchanges, the emergence of decentralized exchanges may have a boost this year...

[newIndia]

I hope it's not an inside job! 

I hope we wont hear about another willy bot that was driving the price up and the lost BTC never actually existed except from Bitstamp book.

p.s. I have seen an address with 18k+ BTC is doing rounds. Would love to see a source where Bitstamp really says that those are the stolen BTC => https://blockchain.info/address/1L2JsXHPMYuAa9ugvHGLwkdstCPUDemNCf