Bitstamp will easily recover from this hack

[Bizmark13]

A lot of people are saying that this is the end of Bitstamp. That they've been goxed and that any bitcoins held on the site are now gone. This isn't true. Bitstamp WILL easily recover from this hack. It sucks that this happened, but this isn't really a huge disaster and it should by no means affect the survivability of the company.

On the 5th of January, Bitstamp lost 18,000 BTC from a 200,000 BTC reserve. That's about 9% of the total reserve.

Percentage-wise, this is very similar to the hack that Poloniex suffered in 2014. It lost 12% of its bitcoins due to a technical glitch which was exploited by a hacker. That exchange was able to recover its reserves in just mere months. It has enjoyed a spotless security record since then.

In August 2014, Bter also lost 50 million NXT worth about $1.6 million due to a hacker. After a while, they were eventually able to recover 42 million NXT making their net loss 8 million NXT and a couple hundred BTC which they sold to the hacker for bargain prices in exchange for the return of the bulk of the stolen NXT. Today, they're still operating perfectly fine.

Bitstamp has had $10 million injected into it from venture capitalist/hedge fund firm Pantera. So as a last resort, they could use this money to refund its customers. Bitstamp earns millions of dollars every year from trading fees. The majority of their coins are held in cold storage. Mike Hearn, a trusted Bitcoin dev audited their BTC reserves several months ago and confirmed that everything looked OK. The fact that only 9 percent of all funds were stolen means that the security benefits of separating hot and cold wallets is working. Services like MyBitcoin, inputs.io, and Mt. Gox that failed to properly separate the two have seen the majority of their funds disappear. From the look of this hacking incident, it is clear that Bitstamp is not making the same mistake.

TL:DR; Your deposits are safe. There is no need to worry.

[Chef Ramsay]

While ultimately I think they will recover just fine, Panterra's boss has made it known that he's distancing himself to BitStamp and I doubt Stamp will find it easy to get any more VC money. They obviously don't need it at this point especially if they come through and cover their customers' losses, if in fact they were actually losses and not a company loss.

[mayax]

While ultimately I think they will recover just fine, Panterra's boss has made it known that he's distancing himself to BitStamp and I doubt Stamp will find it easy to get any more VC money. They obviously don't need it at this point especially if they come through and cover their customers' losses, if in fact they were actually losses and not a company loss.

Where is that annoucement?

If so, DAN MOREHEAD will drag down Ripple which is related with him too.

Ripple will go down along with Bitstamp.

Also, is well-knowm that Bistamp processed orders for Coinbase and Bifinex just to named 2 of the biggest exchangers. There many other small exchangers affected.

[Brewins]

question is: will they be able to survive a withdraw run after they open? And will people keep trading on Stamp, so they can get profits to pay the losses?

Before the hack they had around 100% of reserves, now they have only about 90%. If they are not hiding other losses

[tokeweed]

A lot of people are saying that this is the end of Bitstamp. That they've been goxed and that any bitcoins held on the site are now gone. This isn't true. Bitstamp WILL easily recover from this hack. It sucks that this happened, but this isn't really a huge disaster and it should by no means affect the survivability of the company.

On the 5th of January, Bitstamp lost 18,000 BTC from a 200,000 BTC reserve. That's about 9% of the total reserve.

Percentage-wise, this is very similar to the hack that Poloniex suffered in 2014. It lost 12% of its bitcoins due to a technical glitch which was exploited by a hacker. That exchange was able to recover its reserves in just mere months. It has enjoyed a spotless security record since then.

In August 2014, Bter also lost 50 million NXT worth about $1.6 million due to a hacker. After a while, they were eventually able to recover 42 million NXT making their net loss 8 million NXT and a couple hundred BTC which they sold to the hacker for bargain prices in exchange for the return of the bulk of the stolen NXT. Today, they're still operating perfectly fine.

Bitstamp has had $10 million injected into it from venture capitalist/hedge fund firm Pantera. So as a last resort, they could use this money to refund its customers. Bitstamp earns millions of dollars every year from trading fees. The majority of their coins are held in cold storage. Mike Hearn, a trusted Bitcoin dev audited their BTC reserves several months ago and confirmed that everything looked OK. The fact that only 9 percent of all funds were stolen means that the security benefits of separating hot and cold wallets is working. Services like MyBitcoin, inputs.io, and Mt. Gox that failed to properly separate the two have seen the majority of their funds disappear. From the look of this hacking incident, it is clear that Bitstamp is not making the same mistake.

TL:DR; Your deposits are safe. There is no need to worry.

i agree.  and honestly, i was hoping bitstamp has little BTC in their reserves but way more fiat. that way, when customers panic withdraw when it reopens, bitstamp will have to buy BTC to process withdrawals.  

[ticoti]

Not so easy I think

that reserve includes the bitcoins owned by users,not their bitcoins.

Some calculations say that 18k bitcoins are aproximately 8 months of fees.

And from now on they will have fewer volume for sure.

It will take many time to recover this

[tokeweed]

While ultimately I think they will recover just fine, Panterra's boss has made it known that he's distancing himself to BitStamp and I doubt Stamp will find it easy to get any more VC money. They obviously don't need it at this point especially if they come through and cover their customers' losses, if in fact they were actually losses and not a company loss.

Where is that annoucement?

If so, DAN MOREHEAD will drag down Ripple which is related with him too.

Ripple will go down along with Bitstamp.

Also, is well-knowm that Bistamp processed orders for Coinbase and Bifinex just to named 2 of the biggest exchangers. There many other small exchangers affected.

by ripple, you mean XRP?  maybe it will (in terms of price).

but the ripple platform/network will never go down just cos one ripple gateway was hacked.

[tokeweed]

Not so easy I think

that reserve includes the bitcoins owned by users,not their bitcoins.

Some calculations say that 18k bitcoins are aproximately 8 months of fees.

And from now on they will have fewer volume for sure.

It will take many time to recover this

the question is, how much reserves does bitstamp have in fiat.

[Bitcoinpro]

we are monotoring the situation, they look unprepared and all exchanges should have plan B ready for their customers in these events

[tokeweed]

we are monotoring the situation, they look unprepared and all exchanges should have plan B ready for their customers in these events

unprepared?  that's not good.

imo, the first thing they should do is at least make sure they have enough BTC for withdrawals just in case people panic withdraw. 

[exocytosis]

Why did Stamp shut down all fiat withdrawals, if this was just a "bitcoin hack"?   

[galbros]

Not so easy I think

that reserve includes the bitcoins owned by users,not their bitcoins.

Some calculations say that 18k bitcoins are aproximately 8 months of fees.

And from now on they will have fewer volume for sure.

It will take many time to recover this

I think this is the key point.  Stamp is not going to disappear and the poloniex analogy is good one.  However, 18K coins is a lot to make up over time via fees.

[slacknation]

Not so easy I think

that reserve includes the bitcoins owned by users,not their bitcoins.

Some calculations say that 18k bitcoins are aproximately 8 months of fees.

And from now on they will have fewer volume for sure.

It will take many time to recover this

I think this is the key point.  Stamp is not going to disappear and the poloniex analogy is good one.  However, 18K coins is a lot to make up over time via fees.

not going to disappear but is certainly a huge dent in their cash reserves and reputation. There are a few well backed western exchanges currently lacking customers that will try to soak up current bitstamp's customers. Other than their liquidity and reputation of being here for a long time, I don't see it has other advantages over other exchanges.

[tokeweed]

Not so easy I think

that reserve includes the bitcoins owned by users,not their bitcoins.

Some calculations say that 18k bitcoins are aproximately 8 months of fees.

And from now on they will have fewer volume for sure.

It will take many time to recover this

I think this is the key point.  Stamp is not going to disappear and the poloniex analogy is good one.  However, 18K coins is a lot to make up over time via fees.

not going to disappear but is certainly a huge dent in their cash reserves and reputation. There are a few well backed western exchanges currently lacking customers that will try to soak up current bitstamp's customers. Other than their liquidity and reputation of being here for a long time, I don't see it has other advantages over other exchanges.

what other exchanges are there?  time to find a new home.

[FandangledGizmo]

Not so easy I think

that reserve includes the bitcoins owned by users,not their bitcoins.

Some calculations say that 18k bitcoins are aproximately 8 months of fees.

And from now on they will have fewer volume for sure.

It will take many time to recover this

I think this is the key point.  Stamp is not going to disappear and the poloniex analogy is good one.  However, 18K coins is a lot to make up over time via fees.

not going to disappear but is certainly a huge dent in their cash reserves and reputation. There are a few well backed western exchanges currently lacking customers that will try to soak up current bitstamp's customers. Other than their liquidity and reputation of being here for a long time, I don't see it has other advantages over other exchanges.

what other exchanges are there?  time to find a new home.

2015 is the year of the decentralized exchange...

The Worlds First Decentralized Exchange
http://bytemaster.bitshares.org/article/2015/01/07/The-Worlds-First-Decentalized-Exchange/

The Future of Crypto Currency Exchanges
http://bytemaster.bitshares.org/article/2015/01/05/The-Future-of-Crypto-Currency-Exchanges/

[chopstick]

Bitstamp hack was an inside job, same as Mt gox

Everyone is way too optimistic, I don't think they will even re-launch

[slacknation]

Bitstamp hack was an inside job, same as Mt gox

Everyone is way too optimistic, I don't think they will even re-launch

inside job by ceo?
mt gox was more or less all controlled by ceo, but bitstamp have a lot more stakeholders, so if it's an inside job then it probably is one of the employees.

[amytat]

this is bad news for bitcoin , but i believe they will come back soon .

[freedomno1]

Well I don't have any coins on Stamp but after some mintpal taking my altcoins I would probably be part of that bank run myself
Will need to wait and see on this

[smoothie]

question is: will they be able to survive a withdraw run after they open? And will people keep trading on Stamp, so they can get profits to pay the losses?

Before the hack they had around 100% of reserves, now they have only about 90%. If they are not hiding other losses

Blue: If most people do not withdraw all at once or demand full withdrawals be put into place then maybe (likely not).

Red: I see most people not trading on bitstamp anymore. I know I will not be. This will decrease their daily volume and their daily revenue due to fees.

Bitstamp has a long road ahead of them that I honestly do not see them getting out of easily.