South Korean bitcoin exchange Youbit has announced its plans to declare bankruptcy following a major hack, CoinDesk reported.
In a message on its official website, the company said that at around 4:34 a.m., it lost about 17 percent of total assets due to an external hack.
The recent hack follows another such attack in April. Youbit said that while the loss ratio is lower as compared to April hack, it has decided to proceed with “proceed with the process of stopping the transaction, stopping deposit and withdrawal, and bankruptcy on December 19, 2013.”
The company wrote (loosely translated):
“Due to bankruptcy, the settlement of cash and coins will be carried out in accordance with all bankruptcy procedures.
“However, in order to minimize the damage to our members, we will arrange for the withdrawal of approximately 75% of the balance at 4:00 am on December 19. The rest of the unpaid portion will be paid after the final settlement is completed.
“We will do our best to minimize the loss of our members by 17% , through various methods such as cyber comprehensive insurance (3 billion) and selling the operating rights of the company.”
The police and the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) have started investigating the latest hack, Reuters reported.
South Korean agencies suspect North Korean hackers to be behind a number of cyberattacks on the country’s cryptocurrency exchanges this year, recent reports have revealed. This includes the hack on Bithumb and Coinis.
