Bitfinex announces successful repayment of stolen Bitcoins from previous attack

On April 4, the world-renowned Bitcoin exchange Bitfinex announced that it would repay users for the 119,756 Bitcoins that were stolen when the exchange was attacked on August 2, 2016.

On August 2, 2016, Bitfinex, the world's leading Bitcoin exchange, suffered a huge "disaster". At that time, due to a DDOS attack by cyber hackers, a total of 119,756 Bitcoins were stolen from Bitfinex, which was equivalent to about 70 million US dollars based on the market price at the time.

Faced with the sudden loss, Bitcoin users of Bitfinex exchange have demanded compensation from the exchange. Therefore, Bitfinex had to launch a token called BFX as an "IOU" to repay the losses to users. At the same time, Bitcoin users of the platform can freely trade BFX tokens on the Bitfinex exchange. But the Bitcoin exchange announced today that it will now repay this debt.

At 4 p.m. EST on April 3, Bitfinex stopped all BFX token trading and began allowing Bitcoin users to redeem BFX on Bitfinex at a price of $1/BFX.

Bitcoin exchange Bitfinex said that this is the "final exchange of BFX tokens". All trading services related to BFX tokens have been closed and the trading margin has been cancelled. After the exchange, the trading margin in the user's corresponding account will be returned to the same amount. The exchange of BFX tokens will be carried out automatically, and BFX will be destroyed after the entire exchange activity is completed.

“Overall, we expect the entire redemption process to take approximately 25-35 minutes. The withdrawal of BFX tokens will still allow the exchange to maintain its leading position in the industry. Trading in all other cryptocurrency pairs will continue throughout the redemption process, but asset transfers between Bitcoin wallets will not be possible for the time being.”

The Bitfinex Bitcoin exchange also thanked its customers for their patience, stating in the announcement:

“We are very grateful to our customers and shareholders for their patience and trust in us. Because of your support, we have worked hard to achieve a full recovery of trading operations within eight months. Without the support of the Bitcoin community, Bitfinex is likely to become a footnote in the history of digital currency development, rather than the leader and trendsetter it is today. Thank you.”

It is reported that it was not easy for the Bitcoin exchange Bitfinex to complete the repayment of BFX tokens this time, and they have been questioned by users. But Bitfinex persisted to the end and seized the latest opportunity - "a sharp increase in equity conversion" and "record operating performance in March", which allowed Bitfinex to repay the debt owed to users.