Yet another cryptocurrency exchange hack has occurred. This time a theft occurred on a small, Canadian exchange. With a reasonably small amount of customers, the exchange based out of Alberta was known as MapleChange.
What happened?
On October 28th, MapleChange announced to their 2000 twitter followers that they were the victim of theft. Within a matter of hours, the company indicated that a hacker was able to steal funds from the exchange, preventing the reimbursement of any funds to their customers.
They further indicated that due to the circumstances, they would be immediately ceasing operation of both the exchange and social media accounts.
Upon making these announcements, the company indeed went ‘dark’, and in the process left the world wondering how this happened.
What are they doing about it?
After notable public uproar over the handling of events, the company has now returned to social media. Although it is unlikely that the exchange itself will reopen, they have now opened support channels on both Discord and Twitter.
On these accounts they indicate that although they are unable to reimburse both LTC and BTC to customers, they will diligently work to return other supported altcoins. Time will tell if this reimbursement actually happens.
Scam?
Due to the handling of the incident, many in the industry are fearful that this may be something even worse than a simple theft. They fear that this may be what is known as an exit-scam. This has occurred multiple times throughout the years in the cryptocurrency industry, as exchanges fake a hack, only to abscond with their customer’s funds – never to be seen again.
Although there is now a semblance of communication, with their social media coming back online, the fear of an exit scam will be at the forefront of investors’ minds. If this proves to be the case, this incident will prove harmful to the industry.
As the industry struggles to gain its footing in the world, regulatory bodies are actively assessing dangers to investors. If this situation does in fact end up being an exit scam, the name MapleChange will remain a blight on the world of crypto.
A series of hacks
While this incident is developing, the world’s biggest financial hack is finally coming to a close. Coincheck, which suffered a $530 million USD hack in early 2018, has finally re-opened their doors to accept new users on their platform.
While each of these hacks are for widely different sums of money, the message remains the same. Trade at your own risk, and never leave coins on an exchange. Exchanges big and small have not proven to date that they can effectively secure customers funds. That isn’t to say that exchanges should not be used – simply take part in safe practices, and do not leave yourself exposed, and reliant upon the word of a third party.
