Crypto Exchanges Collaborate With Bithumb to Freeze Stolen Funds After Major Hack

In late March, major South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb lost around $18 million as a result of a hack.

While the details are still sketchy - for instance, it is unclear whether or not it was an inside job, as Bithumb initially claimed - a large portion of the stolen funds have been frozen by various exchanges who received them from hackers attempting to sell the loot.

Despite Bithumb stressing that the hijacked assets belonged to the company and not to its clients, the customers still can't access their funds, since withdrawals and deposits have been disabled as part of the security measures.

"We are working with major exchanges and foundations and expect to recover the loss of the cryptocurrency equivalent," Bithumb's statement reads.

Notably, Bithumb has stressed that the embezzled funds were owned by the company and that all assets belonging to its users are now under the protection of a cold wallet, which allegedly has not been compromised.

Notably, earlier this year, South Korean tech news outlet ZDNet reported that Bithumb was one of just seven cryptocurrency exchanges that have passed a security audit performed by local regulators.

As mentioned above, Bithumb has insisted that the hijacked funds were entirely company-owned, and hence did not represent customers' assets.

Now, Exmo is waiting for Bithumb to send an official inquiry to its British address so that the exchange can transfer the stolen assets back in accordance with the local law and GDPR-compliance processes.

Soon after receiving a message from Bithumb about the ongoing hack, ChangeNow temporarily disabled EOS and XRP deposits, and blacklisted all the malicious addresses received from Bithumb.

"We have been contacted by Bithumb representatives with regards to getting the funds returned to them, and their case is being processed in close collaboration with them and the Korean police. To our knowledge, the investigation is still ongoing."