Bitcoin Rises Sharply After Bitfinex Hack

Bitcoin markets have shrugged off the Bitfinex hack in which hackers reportedly stole 119,756 bitcoins worth about $70 million at current prices. The exchange has halted all trading activities, as well as temporarily suspended all digital tokens deposits and withdrawals. The market has steadied now, and bitcoin is trading with a bullish bias at $553.

bitcoin

Source: TradingView

The news of the cyber-attack on the Hong Kong-based digital currency exchange sent shockwaves in the entire market as the price plunged by a massive 25 percent to hit a low of $465 on huge volumes. The attack reminded the community of a similar attack on Japanese bitcoin exchange Mt Gox which was later forced to file for bankruptcy.

But clearly, the market is more convinced this time that Bitfinex would not go down so easily and astute investors have lapped up the digital currency. As a result, the cryptocurrency is up $90 from its yesterday’s lows. More gains may be expected ahead.

The flash crash in bitcoin price is also a reflection of the underlying fear associated with the cryptocurrency. That investors want to flee at the first sign of crisis will hamper the progress of the digital currency space. Events such as this hack expose the vulnerability of the exchanges and pushes users away from adopting the blockchain-based cryptocurrency in their daily routine. High volatility is another impediment to the widespread adoption. Nobody is willing to pay 0.001 bitcoin for a product today and 0.002 bitcoin a week later just because the price has moved too swiftly.

The fear also worried Litecoin investors and its price pierced $3.400 from its $4.000 level. Another cryptocurrency Dogecoin however, outperformed its peers, solely due to the reason that it is priced in satoshis. The price of each Dogecoin has appreciated from 36 satoshis to 39 satoshis now. 1 Satoshi is equal to 100 millionth of a bitcoin.