Polish Bitcoin Exchange Bitcurex Relaunches Following Hacking Attack

After last week’s hacking attack forced the site to temporarily shut down, Polish bitcoin exchange Bitcurex resumed service on 18th March.

The platform said the perpetrators did not manage to break its security measures and gain full access to its operational hot wallet.

"Today, we launch trade in Polish zlotys, and on Thursday at 12:00 local time in euros to ensure our support team has sufficient capacity of handling bids in this important period," Filip Godecki, a representative of Bitcurex, told CoinDesk.

As earlier reported

, the exchange decided to temporarily close its site on 14th of March at 09:37 am local time as a result of a hack that targeted funds in user wallets.

Company representatives told CoinDesk that shutting down the site would allow its IT team to "perform a necessary verification".

Bolstered security measures

Bitcurex said in a statement on its website that its safety procedures prevented the hackers from further actions after the initial theft.

Explained a representative:

"The service was shut down to carry out repair works and implement the necessary improvements to our system. Our internal procedures prevented any further losses which were limited to between 10 and 20% of our operational Hot Wallet Bitcurex.”

In addition to the installed IT security measures, the site was able to combat last week’s hacking attack thanks to its team of staff who monitor all the transactions and flag suspicious trading activity, according to Godecki.

The Polish exchange said that all the incurred losses were covered from its own funds.

"Our fees will not be raised, nor will we introduce any other restrictions,” Bitcurex stated, adding that it has submitted a formal notification to relevant authorities regarding last week’s attack.

"Due to this, we cannot disclose any further details on the attack which could hinder the activities of law enforcement authorities,” Godecki said.

The exchange also cautioned its users not to use a recently established site with a domain name similar to Bitcurex's.

Development plans

The company representative also said that, independently of the latest attack, the site is working on implementing additional security measures that will create additional layers of security and enhance user experience.

"Over the following weeks, Bitcurex will enter a phase of rapid development,” Godecki said.

Several hours after the site resumed its operations on 18th of March, bitcoin was trading at a low of 1835.90 PLN ($607.80) and a high of 1969.00 PLN ($651.90) on Bitcurex. The exchange had a total volume of 238.2 BTC, according to the latest available data.

Established in July 2012, Bitcurex is based in Łódź, Poland, and is operated by local company Digital Future Ltd.

Bitcoin image via Shutterstock