Bitcoin exchange Cointrader claims to have been hacked and has suspended all operations

Author: Mia

Canadian bitcoin exchange Cointrader announced earlier this week that it had suspended operations following a hacker attack.

According to a notice posted on the company's service website, "The decision to stop all company operations is effective immediately." An anonymous email was sent to the company's users, and there was also news on social networking sites that the company's internal audit showed that the company's "bitcoin shortage" ultimately led to delays in user withdrawals.

The email sent to the user reads:

"The incident is currently under investigation and we will settle the balance in your account as soon as possible. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused to you and will report the latest situation of this incident to you immediately. The company's deposit, withdrawal and trading services are suspended until the incident is completely resolved."

According to data released by market information provider Bitcoin Charts, the company's website had been experiencing a decline in transaction volume for several months before the suspension of business. The data shows that in the past six months, the company's transaction volume was only 81.43 bitcoins (equivalent to US$33,600).

This incident is not the first problem the company has encountered in its business operations. As early as 2014, the company's banking partner, Monterey Bank, closed the company's corporate bank account and announced that it would no longer serve the company's customers.

The root cause of the suspension of bank account business in 2014 was attributed to the restrictive policy adopted by the Canadian government on digital currency at that time. After closing Cointrader’s corporate bank account, the Bank of Monterey turned to support the financial blockchain application of R3CEV Bank Group (currently the world’s largest blockchain project composed of 30 banks).

Conitrader and its partner company Newnote Financial did not immediately make an official response to the reporter's inquiries about the suspension of business.