The decision comes after Livecoin claims its servers were hacked and taken over by attackers in December 2020.
Russian cryptocurrency exchange Livecoin has announced shutting down its operations. The exchange halted its operations temporarily on December 224, 2020, after becoming the victim of an alleged “carefully planned attack.”
During the attack, apparently, hackers took over the exchange’s infrastructure and modified the platform’s cryptocurrency rates to exorbitantly high values. Reportedly, Livecoin traded Bitcoin at over $300,000, whereas the market price for BTC at the time was $24,000.
$BTC is casually trading at 35k+ on @livecoin_net right now
What? pic.twitter.com/Sv9Sk2CyQg
— TANG 🦧 (@cryptorangutang) December 23, 2020
It has now moved its media channels to another domain Livecoinnews from Livecoinnet. The .net domain is currently showing a message allegedly left by the hackers on its homepage. The company claimed last month that it lost control of its servers after a major cyberattack from unknown hackers.
At the time of publishing this article, the domain was displaying the following text:
Oops! Time is over Livecoin… Good try Livecoin. But no… You have 2 days left…
Here’s a full preview of Livecoinnet’s homepage:
On the other hand, Livecoin announced its decision to halt operations on January 16, 2021, on its new website.
“Our service has been damaged hard technically and financially. There is no way to continue operative business in these conditions, so we take a hard decision to close the business and paying the remaining funds to clients,” the company wrote.
The aftermath of the attack
After losing control over its servers, the exchange claimed it couldn’t continue its operations like before. According to Livecoin, users lost $3.3 million worth of funds at the time of the attack, which is worth $5.4 million.
Its new website’s main page displays a notice that states it is shutting down due to extensive post-attack financial and technical losses. The company is investigating the attack.
The Exchange will Pay the Remaining Funds.
Livecoin has asked its users to contact via email for verification purposes. The exchange aims to pay the remaining funds to its users, and for initiating the procedure, users must send their username linked with the exchange and registration date.
The exchange also noted that it would accept reimbursement claims until March 17, 2021, and provide detailed instructions. Afterward, the exchange will not accept any more requests.
Livecoin hasn’t specified how it intends to repay its clients. But it has specified the data required to claim for reimbursement, which includes:
- Passport scans
- First transaction data
- Residence information
- High-resolution selfies
- The device used to access the platform
- A video of their first incoming transactions withdrawal.
Understandably, some users are in a fix as they are hesitant to share the data over privacy concerns.
Beware of Unofficial Livecoin Chat Groups
The exchange has alerted users about the unofficial and inauthentic Livecoin chat groups spreading false information about Livecoin to defraud users. Livecoin has categorically denied any involvement with these fake groups and requested users to beware of foul play.
“Participating in these groups you run a high risk, because we groups,” and their website is the main and only source of information from the exchange.
According to CoinTelegraph, some users are trying to reclaim their funds via Livecoin’s unofficial Telegram group, while the exchange has asked users to avoid using any media channels using its name.
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