TECH

After hacker attack, crypto-coins lose US $42 billion

The devaluation of the crypto-coins has been accentuated, leading to a loss of $ 42 billion in market value over the weekend. The decline in the price of bitcoin has already exceeded 50%.
A hacker attack on a South Korean brokerage firm, Coinrail, has knocked down virtual currency prices. Bitcoin, priced at $ 20,000 in December, fell $ 500 in a few hours to $ 6,627 on Monday, according to Luxembourg brokerage Bitstamp.
Enthusiasm about virtual currencies has declined in recent months. Companies working in the industry have been on the alert in recent months in cases of robberies, market manipulation and money laundering. Although the hacking attack took place in a small company - South Korean Coinrail - the news alert for risks across the sector and motivated a strong sales movement, according to Stephen Innes of Singapore's Oanda:
- It is the movement: If it happened with "A", it can happen with "B" and can happen with "C". Then people panic.
The fall was exacerbated by the low liquidity that has been registered in this market in the weekends.
In a statement on its website, Coinrail said some of its bitcoins seem to have been stolen by hackers, but it does not give details. The information is that 70% of the virtual coins that it owns is a secure file, without connection to the Internet and less vulnerable to robberies. Two-thirds of the stolen incidents were frozen or collected, while the remaining one-third are being examined by other cryptomed companies.
Coinrail trades more than 50 crypto-coins and was among the 100 most active brokerages last year. South Korean police said they were investigating the hacking attack on the brokerage firm.


Agency Globo