Skip to main content

$620,000 theft kills another Bitcoin exchange, but Bitcoin prices still rise

Bitcoin
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Cyber-thieves have delivered a fatal blow to the second Bitcoin exchange in a week – but that hasn’t stopped the value of the embattled cryptocurrency from rising.

Flexcoin, a lesser-known exchange, announced on its website Tuesday that it is shutting down after the theft of 896 Bitcoins, which are worth approximately $625,000 at current exchange rates. The company also revealed the two Bitcoin wallet addresses where thieves transferred the stolen funds.

“As Flexcoin does not have the resources, assets, or otherwise to come back from this loss, we are closing our doors immediately,” the company said.

The stolen Bitcoins were stored in Flexcoin’s so-called “hot wallet” – a digital wallet connected to the Internet. Users who stored their funds in Flexcoin’s cold storage, where “coins were held offline and not within reach of the attacker,” may contact the exchange to withdraw their Bitcoins. Flexcoin says these customers must verify their identities before funds will be transferred.

Twisting the knife, Flexcoin says all other customers (i.e. those who lost their Bitcoin to the hot wallet heist) will be redirected to the company’s “Terms of Service,” which Flexcoin points out is “a document which was agreed on, upon signing up with Flexcoin.” Flexcoin’s terms explicitly state that “Flexcoin Inc is not responsible for insuring any bitcoins stored in the Flexcoin system.” It adds that customers “agree to not hold Flexcoin Inc, or Flexcoin Inc’s stakeholders, or Flexcoin Inc’s shareholders liable for any lost Bitcoins.”

The shuttering of Flexcoin follows the high-profile collapse of Mt. Gox, once the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange, which claims to have lost some 850,000 Bitcoins (around $460 million), and 2.8 billion yen ($27.6 million) to theft. Unlike Flexcoin, Mt. Gox claims thieves were able to access Bitcoin stored in both its hot and cold wallets – a detail that has become a source of intense debate and contention in the Bitcoin community.

While many commentators and analysts believed the apparent death of Mt. Gox, which last week filed for bankruptcy protection in its home country of Japan, would shake investor confidence in Bitcoin, the price of the cryptocurrency has jumped nearly 30 percent, from a low of less than $500 to about $700 as of this writing.

Andrew Couts
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Features Editor for Digital Trends, Andrew Couts covers a wide swath of consumer technology topics, with particular focus on…
Meet the game-changing pitching robot that can perfectly mimic any human throw
baseball hitter swings and misses

Who’s your favorite baseball pitcher? Shane McClanahan? Sandy Alcantara? Justin Verlander? Whoever you said, two of the top sports-tech companies in the U.S. -- Rapsodo and Trajekt Sports -- have teamed up to build a robot version of them, and the results are reportedly uncannily accurate.

Okay, so we’re not talking about walking-talking-pitching standalone robots, as great a sci-fi-tinged MLB ad as that would be. However, Rapsodo and Trajekt have combined their considerable powers to throw a slew of different technologies at the problem of building a machine that's able to accurately simulate the pitching style of whichever player you want to practice batting against -- and they may just have pulled it off, too.

Read more
The best portable power stations
EcoFlow DELTA 2 on table at campsite for quick charging.

Affordable and efficient portable power is a necessity these days, keeping our electronic devices operational while on the go. But there are literally dozens of options to choose from, making it abundantly difficult to decide which mobile charging solution is best for you. We've sorted through countless portable power options and came up with six of the best portable power stations to keep your smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other gadgets functioning while living off the grid.
The best overall: Jackery Explorer 1000

Jackery has been a mainstay in the portable power market for several years, and today, the company continues to set the standard. With three AC outlets, two USB-A, and two USB-C plugs, you'll have plenty of options for keeping your gadgets charged.

Read more
CES 2023: HD Hyundai’s Avikus is an A.I. for autonomous boat and marine navigation
Demonstration of NeuBoat level 2 autonomous navigation system at the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show

This content was produced in partnership with HD Hyundai.
Autonomous vehicle navigation technology is certainly nothing new and has been in the works for the better part of a decade at this point. But one of the most common forms we see and hear about is the type used to control steering in road-based vehicles. That's not the only place where technology can make a huge difference. Autonomous driving systems can offer incredible benefits to boats and marine vehicles, too, which is precisely why HD Hyundai has unveiled its Avikus AI technology -- for marine and watercraft vehicles.

More recently, HD Hyundai participated in the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, to demo its NeuBoat level 2 autonomous navigation system for recreational boats. The name mashes together the words "neuron" and "boat" and is quite fitting since the Avikus' A.I. navigation tech is a core component of the solution, it will handle self-recognition, real-time decisions, and controls when on the water. Of course, there are a lot of things happening behind the scenes with HD Hyundai's autonomous navigation solution, which we'll dive into below -- HD Hyundai will also be introducing more about the tech at CES 2023.

Read more