On Saturday, Gatecoin CEO Aurélien Menant, released a statement that details the nature of the hack and how the exchange managed to lose 15% of client’s digital currency deposits.
Gatecoin has always kept 95% of all customer funds in multi-signature cold wallets, however, the hacker managed to alter Gatecoin systems in such a way as to divert ETH deposits away from these secure cold wallets.
Aurélien Menant explained:
“However, the malicious external party involved in this breach, managed to alter our system so that ETH deposit transfers by-passed the multi-sig cold storage and went directly to the hot wallet during the breach period. This means that losses of ETH funds exceed the 5% limit that we imposed on our hot wallets.”
According to a joint forensic investigation being carried out by cyber security firm Tehri Security and Gatecoin staff: the total sum lost in the theft currently stands at $2 million (185k ETH and 250 BTC). While the perpetrators managed to steal a much larger portion of ETH, the BTC stolen amounts to 5% of all bitcoin in cold storage. Additionally, Menant stated that all fiat currency deposits are safely stored in segregated accounts.
The Gatecoin team is currently working on allowing clients to withdraw select digital assets and fiat currency deposits (DAO, DGD, REP, USD, EUR and HKD) though a custom platform, which is scheduled to be released on May 28th, “The exact date when withdrawals for clients’ ETH and BTC funds will be available has yet to be confirmed.” adds Menant.
The official statement also revealed that Gatecoin is looking to raise money to make clients whole, but no further details about the exact nature of the fundraising was given.
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