On 10th June 2018, CoinRail, a small yet renowned cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea had announced that there had been a hacking attempt. The official website of Coinrail stated that they had confirmed “70% of the coin rail total coin / token reserves are safely stored” and, “Two-thirds of the coins confirmed to have been leaked are covered by freezing / recalling through consultation with each coach and related exchanges. The remaining one-third of coins are being investigated with investigators, relevant exchanges, and coin developers.”
Currently, CoinRail is focused on improving the security so as to provide the maximum protection to the assets and minimize the damage. The exact damage of the leaked coin and tokens is yet to be confirmed and may take some time. The Bitcoin price and many other cryptocurrencies have dropped after the news of the South Korean exchange hack was released. Meanwhile, an investigation by police agencies is on the roll.
Drop in Price
It has been noted that the price of Bitcoin had dropped by nearly 11% after 5 p.m. New York time on Friday. At the time of writing on 11th June, the price of BTC as per coinmarketcap.com shows $6,782.39 USD (-7.11%) approximately. This has resulted in its year-to-date loss to nearly 53 percent. Other major cryptocurrency markets have also been affected adversely. As per coinmarketcap.com, the market value of digital assets has slumped to a nearly two-month low of $294 billion. Compared to the stats in early January, at one point the digital assets were worth $830 billion.
Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash and other cryptocurrencies had fallen by 5% or more. The previous two weeks had seen comparatively little volatility in the cryptocurrency market.
Ethereum has experienced a drop of nearly 6.38% to $534.72 USD as recorded at the time of writing on 11th June 2018. As per coinmarketcap.com, the market cap of Ethereum (ETH) has fallen by nearly $1,000,000,000 USD since yesterday. At the time of writing, Ripple (XRP) has also dropped to $0.582 USD (-7.39%) approximately. The historical data of XRP from coinmarketcap.com shows that there has been a decline of nearly $3,000,000,000 USD in market cap from 8th June to 11th June (as of now). Currently, the market cap of Ripple (XRP) is approximately $22,874,489,464 USD.
Among Ethereum, Ripple and Bitcoin Cash, it seems that Bitcoin Cash (BCH) was more affected. Since yesterday, as per coinmarketcap.com, the price of BCH has fallen to $928.42 USD (-10.04%) approximately. (At the time of writing, 11th June 2018) The market cap drop, however, remains close to that of Ethereum (ETH).
Probable Reasons for the Hack
North Korea still stands to be one of the primary suspects whenever there is news about a cryptocurrency exchange hack. Through this process, it is widely believed that North Korea exchanges the virtual currencies for hard currencies. The turf between North Korea and South Korea is also one of the reasons for cryptocurrency exchanges in South Korea being a target. However, other factors can also be the reason behind this hack.
Hope
The news of another South Korean cryptocurrency exchange hack is quite alarming but it is nothing to be overly worried about. News of cryptocurrency exchange hacks had made headlines previously also. For instance, in July last year, Bithumb, the world’s fifth largest crypto exchange at that time, located in South Korea was hacked. According to reports, information on above 30,000 customers was compromised. Even though the hackers could not access the customer accounts, their personal information was compromised. Another instance of a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange hack is the Youbit hack in December 2017. It was estimated that nearly 4,000 Bitcoins were stolen.
It has been observed that major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple and Bitcoin Cash had rebounded after the hacks. The second half of 2017 had also seen Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other major cryptocurrencies reach their peak. Ripple, for instance, has continued to maintain its status and position in the cryptocurrency world by becoming partners with some of the major financial institutions and companies. The popularity of the Ethereum blockchain and smart contracts has in no way decreased after the news of previous major hacks. It can be said from this that the crypto coins will also again see an increase in price, market cap, and volume. The exchanges have also bounced back with stronger security system and strategies that will protect their clients’ personal information and accounts in case of an attack. The attack on CoinRail will hopefully not have any long-lasting effect on Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin or Bitcoin Cash.
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Disclaimer: This article should not be taken as, and is not intended to provide, investment advice. Global Coin Report and/or its affiliates, employees, writers, and subcontractors are cryptocurrency investors and from time to time may or may not have holdings in some of the coins or tokens they cover. Please conduct your own thorough research before investing in any cryptocurrency and read our full disclaimer.
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