Tether $31m crypto-currency theft fuels debate over digital-coin security
Hong Kong — Bitcoin slipped from a record high, after the $31m theft of a crypto-currency peer renewed concern about the security of digital coins. The company behind tether, a crypto-currency used by bitcoin exchanges to facilitate trades with fiat currencies, announced the theft on Tuesday. It said in a statement that a "malicious" attacker removed tokens from the Tether treasury wallet on November 19 and sent them to an unauthorised bitcoin address. The company said it was trying to prevent the stolen coins from being used. Bitcoin dropped as much as 5.4% to $7,798.72, before paring declines to 0.7% at 9.20am in London. The incident is the latest in a long list of hacks that have dented confidence in the safety of crypto-currencies. It’s likely to fuel the debate on Wall Street over whether digital coins are secure enough to enter the mainstream of finance. Tether, with a market capitalisation of $676m, is the world’s 19th most valuable virtual currency, according to data on Coin...
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