Bitcoin Exchange Hacked For $5 Million Worth of Bitcoins

Bitstamp, a Slovenian exchange service, has been temporarily disrupted after a breach left its reserves $5 million shorter, according to Tech Crunch.

“On January 4th, some of Bitstamp`s operational wallets were compromised, resulting in a loss of less than 19,000 BTC,” the company confirmed in an updated statement.

The company said it has temporarily suspended its service “as a security precaution,” but reassured its customers the lost amount represents only “a small fraction” of its reserves.

It also said most of their reserves are stored in offline storage systems, so Bitstamp customers can rest assured that their Bitcoin transactions, prior to the date of the breach, “are completely safe and will be honored in full.”

Bitstamp has not announced when it will resume activity and is working on transferring a backup of their site to a safer platform.

This is the first Bitcoin-related breach in 2015. Yet, based on previous events, we can expect the Bitcoin landscape to continuously change. Last year, major Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox and underground marketplace Silk Road had their operations closed and millions of customers were affected as a result.