BTC.com Reports Hack, Confirms Operational Continuity 

BTC.com, one of the market’s largest cryptocurrency mining pools, suffered a cyberattack on its system, leading to the loss of company and customer funds. 

Hackers Carted Away $3 Million

Earlier this week, BIT Mining, the parent company for BTC.com, confirmed in an official release that the mining pool had been the victim of a hack that happened earlier this month. As the company explained, the cyberattack occurred on December 3, with hackers making off with about $700,000 in customer funds and another $2.3 million in company resources. 

With over 2.9% of the total cryptocurrency hashrate, BTC.com is the seventh-largest crypto mining pool in the world. The platform provides multi-currency mining services, supporting Bitcoin (BTC) and Litecoin (LTC), among others. Its parent company, BIT MIning, is a publicly-traded company that provides users with a blockchain browser. 

In its release, BIT Mining added that it immediately reported the occurrence to law enforcement authorities in Shenzhen, China and that they have been collaborating with local authorities to investigate the source of the attack and possible remediation efforts. While the efforts have already led to the recovery of some lost assets, BTC.com has confirmed that it will continue to work towards asset recovery and ensure that issues like these are prevented from happening in the future.

BIT Mining failed to disclose how much in crypto was recovered, although the company confirmed that BTC.com continues to operate and customer funds haven’t been affected in any way. 

Rough Times for Crypto Miners

The hack announcement is coming at a time when mining companies in the market are facing harsh realities. The market downturn has made cryptocurrencies less attractive, meaning there hasn’t been much incentive to mine. 

Last week, Core Scientific – a publicly traded mining company based in Texas – confirmed that it would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Court documents have shown that the company will be making the filing after falling victim to an extended bear market. The company, which already sold almost 10,000 BTC back in April to stay operational, appears to have underestimated the bear market’s effects on its operations in the long run. 

A further report from CNBC confirmed that Core Scientific had been generating positive cash flows. However, the income earned is insufficient to cover its operational costs. The company received an offer for a $72 million line of credit from financial services platform B. Reilly earlier this month to stave off its imminent bankruptcy, but that wasn’t enough to keep it afloat. 

While Core Scientific is set for a trip to bankruptcy court, Argo Blockchain, another mining firm, appears ready to go down the same line. Earlier this month, the London-based mining firm confirmed that it had been negotiating to sell its asset in an “equipment financing transaction” as it looks to avoid a bankruptcy filing of its own. 

As the company’s announcement explained, Argo is at risk of having insufficient funds to keep operating. And as its financial projections show, it would most likely run out of funds within a month. While it has yet to file for bankruptcy in the United States, it blamed “inadvertently published materials” related to its financial situation for leading to the suspension of its trading on the NASDAQ and the London Stock Exchange. 

While it claimed that it had resumed trading on the London Stock Exchange, it added that it is still looking to sell its assets to raise capital. However, it isn’t ruling out the possibility of a bankruptcy filing down the line.