Bitfinex Slowly Getting Back Online after Users Suffer 36% Loss

Bitfinex has announced that it is slowly getting back online after announcing to its users that they will lose 36 percent of their assets.

Last week the Hong Kong-based bitcoin exchange suffered a security breach which saw $65 million worth of bitcoins stolen and the price of bitcoin plummeting 20 percent. It has since climbed back up nearing the $600 mark.

In the announcement , Bitfinex said that they are beginning the process of bringing the platform online in a controlled and secure way.

It said:

Currently the site is available on a read-only basis as we continue to work towards enabling full functionality. This means that users will be able to log into their accounts but trading, depositing, and withdrawing will remain disabled at this time.

Token Compensation

The company has announced that its Bitfinex account holders will receive tokens on the Omni protocol, the ‘BFX token,’ which will be equal to the amount of their discrete loss.

These tokens will either remain outstanding until they have been paid in full by Bitfinex or exchanged for shares in its parent company, iFinex Inc. Bitfinex has said that a statement regarding the exchange of the tokens will be announced at a later date.

Socialized Loss

Bitfinex recently made the decision to apply a 36 percent cut to all of its users even those who weren’t affected by the hack that saw 119,756 bitcoins stolen.

The unpopular decision had many online venting their frustration.

One Reddit user said:

So, even though I had almost none of my USD invested in coins, I’m going to lose 36%? I literally can’t afford that.

While another stated:

I deposited USD and it wasn’t even credited to my account. My funds are sitting pretty in your Taiwan bank account, unscathed from the attack. I refuse to allow you to allocate my funds as you please. How you can even begin to explain how my untraded, untouched fiat should be treated like people’s stolen bitcoin is beyond me.

In the latest blog post from Bitfinex it has said that users will need to reset their password in addition to new security measures. Users will be able to see their balances with the adjustment for the shared trading loss. Full platform functionality will come online in progressive steps in the coming days, the exchange said.

Featured image from Shutterstock.