December 29, 2022
One of the biggest cryptocurrency mining companies in the world announced this week that a cyberattack led to the theft of about $3 million.
BIT Mining – based in Hong Kong – said the incident on December 3 targeted one of the company’s subsidiaries: BTC.com.
“In the cyberattack, certain digital assets were stolen, including approximately $700,000 in asset value owned by BTC.com’s clients, and approximately $2.3 million in asset value owned by the Company,” the company said in a statement.
The incident was reported to law enforcement authorities in Shenzhen, China, where police began an investigation on December 23.
BIT Mining said some of the stolen funds have been recovered “due to coordination locally and within the company” but did not respond to requests for comment about how much was obtained.
Officials in Shenzhen have been collecting evidence and coordinating with other national agencies on the case. BIT Mining said it planned to “devote considerable efforts to recover the stolen digital assets.”
The company added that it has since implemented new technology that will better help their IT teams “block and intercept” potential hackers.
BIT Mining has data centers in Hong Kong and in Ohio, mining both Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The cryptocurrency market downturn has caused corresponding issues for several cryptocurrency mining companies.
Argo Blockchain, another major cryptocurrency mining company, narrowly avoided bankruptcy by selling off its facility in Dickens County, Texas, for $65 million in a deal that closed on Wednesday. Cryptocurrency mining giant Core Scientific filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy last week and Compute North also filed for bankruptcy in September.
Cryptocurrency miners faced further issues this week as weather conditions across the U.S. forced several companies to limit operations.
Due to extreme cold weather sweeping across the eastern and southern half of the US, we will be participating in multiple power curtailments to help stabilize the electrical grid. BTC production is expected to decrease during this time.
Wrap up and keep warm everyone. 🥶 pic.twitter.com/WGRgXp5tDB
Due to the extreme weather conditions in #Texas, we will be closing down our Rockdale Facility to ensure the safety of our team members. Stay tuned for updates.
Jonathan has worked across the globe as a journalist since 2014. Before moving back to New York City, he worked for news outlets in South Africa, Jordan and Cambodia. He previously covered cybersecurity at ZDNet and TechRepublic.
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