Hackers have done in another virtual currency exchange as Canadian-based Flexcoin has been forced to close down.
The company said flaws in its software code enabled hackers to steal 440,000 euros worth of Bitcoins.
“As Flexcoin does not have the resources, assets, or otherwise to come back from this loss, we are closing our doors immediately,” the company said in a statement.
The company said the attack had exploited a flaw in its code on transfers between users and involved inundating the system with simultaneous requests to move coins between accounts, Euronews.com reports.
“Flexcoin has made every attempt to keep our servers as secure as possible, including regular testing,” it said, adding it had repelled thousands of attacks over the past few years. “But in the end, this was simply not enough.”
The firm said it is working with law enforcement agencies to trace the source of the hack.
The company said it will return to owners Bitcoins that were held in computers not connected to the internet and which could not be raided.
The closure comes after Mt. Gox,, one of the largest Bitcoin exchanges, went dark last month and filed for bankruptcy. It too blamed hacking for its losses of about 850,000 Bitcoins.
Also, Japan will reportedly develop regulations for virtual currencies in light of the Mt. Gox failure.
Reuters reports through sources that banks and securities firms will not be able to handle Bitcoin as part of their main business, suggesting the virtual currency will be treated more as a commodity in Japan.
In some other developments:
The creator of the Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, has been located living near Los Angeles and interviewed by Newsweek.
Newsweek described him as a “64-year-old Japanese-American man whose name really is Satoshi Nakamoto. He is someone with a penchant for collecting model trains and a career shrouded in secrecy, having done classified work for major corporations and the U.S. military.”
Nakamato did not answer questions and said he is no longer involved with Bitcoins. Nakamato also called police when approached by Newsweek writer Leah McGrath Goodman and seemed to object to being revealed.
The report, however, details Nakamoto’s background and dispels many of the myths created about him.
Also, the American CEO of a virtual currency exchange was found dead near her home in Singapore.
Police said initial investigations indicated there was no suspicion of “foul play” in the Feb. 26 death of 28-year-old Autumn Radtke, according to the Washington Post.
Radtke was CEO of virtual currency exchange First Meta. Various reports suggest she may have committed suicide by jumping to her death from her apartment complex. Police have listed her death as “unnatural,” which could mean suicide, and accident or a misadventure, the Post reports.
The Chicago Tribune reports Radtke was facing several personal problems, but the failure of the exchange to take off may have contributed to her frame of mind.
