Two weekends ago the South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinrail announced a hacking attempt on its website. With no more detail than a statement that said there was activity of a "cyber intrusion" and that it had managed to "freeze" certain coins with others being kept in a cold wallet. The exchange is now offline (hence no link to the website and its announcement).
At the time, this news was believed to be the culprit of the drop in Bitcoin value along with commensurate drops for some of the other major currencies.
I am not an economist nor a financial analyst. I am an amateur follower of cryptocurrency at best. What I am, though, is a 20+ year security professional who has spent a lot of time investigating and helping companies prevent security breaches and fraud.
I am struggling to understand why something that happens daily in other areas of cyberspace has such an effect on the value of these currencies. Why would the alleged hack of a South Korean exchange site (the 98th largest) that no one knows anything about or has not provided any details indicate that there is any sort of fundamental problem with the currency?
Read the full article in ITSP Magazine