Bitfinex Offline as Customer Bitcoin Reported Stolen

UPDATE (3rd August 2:40 UTC): Bitfinex representatives confirmed 119,756 BTC (more than $60m) has been lost or stolen from the exchange.

According to a statement posted on its website, Bitfinex has suspended trading, deposits and withdrawals. Both the number of customers impacted and the exact amount lost in the breach are unclear at this time.

Bitfinex said:

"We are investigating the breach to determine what happened, but we know that some of our users have had their bitcoins stolen. We are undertaking a review to determine which users have been affected by the breach. While we conduct this initial investigation and secure our environment, Bitfinex.com will be taken down and the maintenance page will be left up."

The exchange, which trades a number of digital currencies, said that only its bitcoin accounts were impacted. Further, Bitfinex indicated that it may move to settle certain financed trading positions that were active when the breached reportedly occurred.

"As we account for individualized customer losses, we may need to settle open margin positions, associated financing, and/or collateral affected by the breach," the statement read. "Any settlements will be at the current market prices as of 18:00 UTC."

Bitfinex said that it "will look at various options to address customer losses later in the investigation", according to the statement.

The exchange suffered a security incident last May, when its hot wallet – a wallet containing bitcoin funds connected to the Internet – was targeted. This year has thus far seen other exchange services, including ShapeShift and Gatecoin, experience losses as a result of security breaches.

Bitfinex did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

CoinDesk is monitoring this developing story.

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