BitMarket, a Polish cryptocurrency exchange, shut down this week over a hack it suffered back in 2017 that saw hackers take around 600 BTC from its wallets.
According to Finance Magnates, the cryptocurrency exchange shut down on Wednesday, July 10, without warning. Those looking to access its homepage were merely presented with a message saying that, because of a lack of liquidity, BitMarket was shutting down.
The company’s director, Marcin Aszkielowicza, issued a statement earlier this Thursday revealing a few extra details regarding what happened to the cryptocurrency exchange. Per Aszkielowicza, BitMarket was hacked in 2017, in a security incident that affected “several users” and saw the exchange lose over 600 bitcoin.
As a result it struggled to remain afloat through the last two years, partly because of those in charge of the exchange. Aszkielowicza stated:
The persons actually managing the stock exchange at the time, being aware of this immensely difficult situation, left me alone with the problem of a huge deficit.
Per the CEO’s words, for the last two years he’s been doing what he can to keep BitMarket afloat. Bitcoin’s recent price surge, from a $3,200 low in December of last year to a $13,000 high this year, has made it impossible for it to continue, however.
Aszkielowicza added he was “hoping that this catastrophe would be avoided.” He added:
I was not and I am not a crook. I was left alone by my partners, on a sinking ship, naively believing that I would manage to reach the port.
The CEO also revealed he’ll be revealing more details of what happened to the exchange to prosecutors in Poland, which could mean affected users will be able to get to the bottom of things.
Cryptocurrency exchanges getting hacked, it’s worth noting, is somewhat common in the crypto ecosystem. Last month, Bittrue was hacked and lost $4.5 million worth of XRP and ADA, while in May Binance was hacked for over 7,000 BTC.
