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Update | Hong Kong Bitcoin exchange hacked, US$66m stolen: thieves may have exploited market closure during typhoon

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Financial technology company iFinex, headquartered in Central, is the owner of the Bitfinex platform. Photo: Reuters
Bien Perezin Hong KongandSarah Zhengin Beijing

Investor confidence on Bitcoin has taken another big hit after Bitfinex, a prominent Hong Kong-based digital currency exchange, reported the theft of about US$65.8 million worth of bitcoins early Wednesday.

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About 119,756 bitcoins were lost in a security breach, according to Zane Tackett, the director of community and product development at Bitfinex.

News of the Bitfinex hack promptly led to a crash in bitcoin prices.

“Today we discovered a security breach that requires us to halt all trading on Bitfinex, as well as halt all digital token deposits to and withdrawals from Bitfinex,” the company said on the landing page of its website. “We are investigating the breach to determine what happened, but we know that some of our users have had their bitcoins stolen.”
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The security breach may have exploited the closure of Hong Kong’s financial markets on Tuesday, when much of the business community was in operation for only a brief period in the afternoon as Typhoon Nida made landfall on local shores.

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