A moderator of the chat at BTC-e known as “Dev” indicates that a malicious entity was able to deposit fake Liberty Reserve funds, and use them to purchase Bitcoins. The moderator went on to state that “they [were] able to withdraw [a] small amount of BTC on our bitcoin server”. The exact amount is still unknown. The European Bitcoin exchange intends to perform a rollback on the fraudlent deposits and resulting trade transactions at around 7:10 AM GMT 7/31/12.
Quick tabulations based on volume reported by Bitcoin Charts indicate around 63,500 Bitcoins have been fraudulently purchased at prices of up to $80/coin. With MtGox prices still hovering around $9.30/coin, such a differentiation in price has already caused panic on the exchange, with many users hovering on the website’s chat, trying to ensure that their funds are safe.
As of 7:34 AM GMT, a rollback of the fraudulent transactions has not yet been performed. More updates to come.
Were you affected by the attack? Post your comments below, or send your story to [email protected].