SEOUL, South Korea–A cyberheist at virtual currency exchange here has wiped billions of dollars off the value of Bitcoin and other digital currencies.
The virtual currency exchange, Coinrail, said it had been hit by cyber thieves who had stolen approximately 30% of its virtual currencies.
The exchange issued a statement saying it had temporarily suspended trading in digital currencies and was working with investigators to try to track down the missing funds. The exchange did not disclose the value of tokens stolen. The theft was of less well-known cryptocurrencies rather than Bitcoin itself, according to the exchange.
The theft, along with others, has helped push down values of commonly traded digital currencies. Bitcoin, for instance, was trading at around $6,750 in trading in Asia in the wake of the announcement, which is its lowest price in two months and one half what it was trading at when 2018 began.