Bitfinex clients to lose 36pc of assets after HK exchange hack
Value shaved off customers’ accounts to make up for losses. But those affected offered ‘BFX’ token that can be redeemed for shares in parent company
Bitfinex, the Hong Kong-based crypto-currency exchange that lost US$72 million last week in a hack, has told its customers they will lose just over 36 per cent of their assets held on the platform.
But those affected will be compensated with newly issued token which can be exchanged for shares in its parent company.
In a statement over the weekend, the company said losses would be shared, or “generalised” across Bitfinex clients, adding it would come back online in “the coming days”.
“Due to the indiscriminate nature of the attack, we have decided to generalise losses across all accounts. Upon logging into the platform, customers will see they have experienced a generalised loss percentage of 36.067 per cent,” the official statement said.
Hackers stole 119,756 bitcoins from the Bitfinex exchange in the security breach early last Wednesday, about 0.75 per cent of all bitcoins in circulation, prompting the company to halt all deposits and withdrawals from the service.
Bitfinex will now issue new tokens called “BFX” to each customer equal to their loss, which can be exchanged for shares in parent company iFinex Inc.