Bithumb, one of the leading cryptocurrency exchange platforms in South Korea, announces that it will compensate its customers whose accounts were compromised during an attack on its data systems.
The data leak is believed to originate from a computer of an unidentified employee of the company.
According to a report by regional news service Yonhap, there are up to 30,000 users who were affected by the data leak.
Global crypto market standing
Based on data provided by CoinMarketCap, Bithumb is one of the top ten Bitcoin exchanges worldwide in terms of volume. Bithumb’s Bitcoin transactions account for approximately 3% of the entire Bitcoin market. The exchange, meanwhile, captures around 13.5% of the total Ethereum market.
Compensation to affected users
In their recent blog post, the exchange said that it will pay each affected client 100,000 Korean Won, which is equivalent to around USD 86.50.
The company also reveals that additional compensation will be provided to customers whose funds were stolen due to the data leak. The company, however, did not provide an exact figure on the total losses incurred as well as the number of users who were affected.
One local customer, meanwhile, said that he lost 10 million Won or around USD 8,700 from his/her account.
Bithumb reassures:
"In addition, for the members who suffer additional damage due to this incident, we will compensate the entire amount of damages in a responsible manner”.
The incident of account theft and data leak at the exchange was first reported to local authorities in late June 2017.
The reports have prompted the Korea Internet and Security Agency to conduct an initial probe on the case. According to an unidentified official, the Korea Communications Commission has also participated in the preliminary investigation.