Bithumb Crypto Exchange Re-opens Deposits and Withdrawals 🚨 This article is 6 years old...
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Bithumb Crypto Exchange Re-opens Deposits and Withdrawals
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Updated: Oct. 9, 2018 at 9:24 pm UTC
Photo by JOHN TOWNER on Unsplash
In mid-June 2018 Bithumb was hacked for $31 million worth of cryptocurrency and subsequently halted all withdrawal and deposit services. On Aug. 4, however, Bithumb resumed the services for 10 specific cryptocurrencies.
Recovery from Large-scale Hack
South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb announced on Twitter that deposit and withdrawal services will resume at 11 a.m. KST on Aug. 4, 2018.
[Re-open deposit and withdrawal services]
■ Timeline for the first round deposit and withdrawal services
: 4 Aug, 2018 11 AM[KST]■ List of cryptocurrencies (10 in total)
: BTC, ETH, XRP, ETC, QTUM, LTC, BCH, XMR, ZEC, MITH— Bithumb (@BithumbOfficial) August 3, 2018
Bithumb suspended withdrawal and deposit services for all of its cryptocurrencies following a large-scale hack on June 19, 2018. Since then, the exchange recovered nearly half of the stolen funds.
Bithumb is the second largest South Korean digital asset exchange by 24-hour trading volume and holds 33 percent of the domestic market share, according to data by FinTechNews.
Following a security system upgrade, 10 cryptocurrencies will resume withdrawal and deposit services on the platform, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Qtum (QTUM), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC) and Mithrill (MITH). Such services for 25 other cryptocurrencies remain halted.
In the announcement, Bithumb states that market price fluctuations are the reason for excluding some cryptocurrencies from the service resumption.
“Some cryptocurrencies with a significant price difference of about 10 percent between Bithumb market and standard market will be opted out in this round in view of protecting our customer’s asset. Since when the services return to normal, rapid change in market prices are expected. Therefore, resuming normal services for such cryptocurrencies will be put on hold for the time being.”
It seems Bithumb services will continue for the full list of cryptocurrencies once prices stabilize on the exchange.
Bithumb further notifies users that they will need to request all new deposit addresses. The exchange ensured traders that all uncredited deposits made during the time of the hold will be credited.
Bithumb Halts New Virtual Accounts
On Aug. 1, Bithumb suspended new bank-linked virtual accounts after failing to establish a contract with NH Nonghyup Bank.
Bithumb’s temporary freeze follows South Korea’s recent ban on anonymous trading through anonymous virtual accounts in January 2018.
Bithumb reportedly terminated its original contract with Shinhan Bank and opted to renew a separate contract with NH Nonghyup Bank but was recently denied. In an interview with BusinessKorea, an official from Nonghyup Bank said:
“We have decided not to renew the contract because Bithumb still has problems in protecting consumers and information and preventing money laundering.”
Bithumb informed users that it is cooperating with Nonghyup Bank and will soon continue new virtual account registration. Among the top-4 cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea, Bithumb is currently the only operator without a commercial banking partnership.
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Posted In: South Korea, Exchanges
