Yet more bad news for fans of virtual currency and bitcoin especially.
Flexcoin, an Alberta-based bitcoin exchange announced on Tuesday it was shutting down following a hacking and theft of its reserve of the virtual money.
A thief or thieves managed to get into the Flexcoin servers and transfer the entire stock of 896 bitcoins into two bitcoin wallets- somehat equivalent to individual bank accounts where the virtual currency is stored.
The loss, estimated at around $600,000 at today’s exchange rates, wipes out the accounts of any customers who had savings there.
The company said the money was transferred to these bitcoin wallets
- 1NDkevapt4SWYFEmquCDBSf7DLMTNVggdu
- 1QFcC5JitGwpFKqRDd9QNH3eGN56dCNgy6
It also said it will be working with police to trace the source of the hack.
This news comes on the heels of the hacking and theft of the equivalent of millions of dollars from the largest bitcoin bank, Mt.Gox, based in Japan. It has begun bankruptcy proceedings.
And there is more disturbing news today. The CEO of another virtual currency exchange was found dead outside her Singapore apartment tower on Thursday. Autumn Radke, 28, was the CEO of First Meta, a company which allows the purchase, trade, and cash out of virtual currencies like bitcoin. Police say they do not believe foul play was involved, but are listing the death as “unnatural”.
These incidence are shaking the confidence in virtual currencies which are not regulated by any authority and so there seems to be little recourse in the event of theft.
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