Crypto Exchange Youbit Bites Dust After Second Hack

Youbit, which operated as a cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea, announced news on Tuesday that it would file for bankruptcy following a hack that stole 17 percent of the company’s crypto “assets.”

The Telegraph reported this morning, via a statement signed by “all employees” at the company, that the company is working to minimize customer losses, with upcoming details on refunds to be provided via “additional notice.”

This is the second hack to hit the company. The Telegraph noted that in the first one in April, as many as 4,000 bitcoins were stolen, allegedly by North Korean hackers. This recent loss was smaller, the firm said, but did not quantify it. The Korea Internet & Security Agency, which is a South Korean intelligence service, is currently conducting an investigation.

In tandem with the news, the price of bitcoin fell from roughly $19,000 per coin to $18,000.

Reuters reported Youbit also revealed that customers’ crypto holdings will be marked down to 75 percent of their value, and that trading has stopped.

The company is among the “smaller players” in South Korea’s cryptocurrency arena. Another company, known as Bithumb, dominates the landscape, with 70 percent of that country’s trading. As the newswire reported, “bitcoin exchanges and wallets have a history of being targeted, and security experts say they become more vulnerable to cybercrime as valuations rise.”

Separately, and as noted in this space earlier in the week, Reuters also reported that North Korean hackers were behind several attacks on cryptocurrency exchanges, waves of cyberattacks that led to the theft of $6.99 million worth of tokens this year. That allegation was made by South Korea’s National Intelligence Service.