Bitfinex to offer 5% of the stolen digital currency in exchange for information leading to the recovery of the stolen BTCs. Information useful to Bitfinex includes the identity of the hackers.
Earlier this month, the digital currency industry saw one of the largest data breach incidents in history. The Hong Kong-based digital currency exchange firm, Bitfinex, on 2 August, reported a data breach that resulted in the loss of close to 120,000 BTCs.
The loss, which was about $72 million at the time of the breach, resulted in the temporary closure of the site. Fortunately, Bitfinex has now resumed business, though investigations into the security breach are still ongoing. The bounty announcement is part of the company’s efforts to recover the stolen BTCs. Bitfinex is encouraging anyone with information about the hacker(s) to come forward.
In truth, the reward is quite luring. 5% of the stolen BTCs amount to about $3.5 million, an amount you just do not come across often. The company made the announcement on Reddit, a social media site.
The announcement is in response to a question by a member of the community; “What is the bounty for recovering the Bitfinex coins? Shouldn’t the bounty be in BTCs?” Zane Tackett, Bitfinex’s community director, responded to the query by confirming that Bitfinex was willing to offer 5 percent of the recovered BTCs. Zane, however, was quick to clarify that the bounty will only be eligible if the information provided leads to the recovery of the coins.
Zane was also clear about what would happen in the event more than one person provided useful information leading to the recovery of the stolen BTCs. In such a case, the bounty amount will be divided equally among all, or as he put it “pro rata”.
Meanwhile, Bitfinex resulted in dividing the losses it experienced among all customers to compensate the customers who lost their coins. To accomplish that, Bitfinex reduced the balances of all its customers by 30.067% and replaced the reduction with BFX tokens. The BFX tokens are to be reimbursed at a later date.
As of 10th August, Bitfinex customers could make deposits and perform withdrawals. The site became fully operational on 13th August.
If you’re going to be using Bitcoins, you might consider getting a VPN specifically for that purpose.
