Bitcoin Hits $500K on Russian Crypto Exchange After Hackers Take Control — Users Cry Exit Scam

Cryptocurrency trading platform Livecoin claims that it has been hacked after the crypto community noticed the price of bitcoin shoot up to half a million dollars. Meanwhile, users are complaining that they cannot withdraw their funds, suspecting the exchange of pulling an exit scam.

$500K per Bitcoin on Livecoin Exchange

Russian cryptocurrency exchange Livecoin claims that it suffered a security breach over Christmas after the crypto community observed the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies soar exponentially on the exchange above their market prices.

Bitcoin was reportedly trading at about $500,000, while ETH surpassed $15,000, and XRP rose above $17. At other exchanges, BTC is currently trading at around $24,813, ETH at $630, and XRP at $0.31.

Meanwhile, a number of users are complaining on social media that their deposits were not credited to their accounts and they could not withdraw their funds from the exchange. This has caused many to suspect an exit scam.

Livecoin subsequently posted a message on its website on Christmas Eve asking customers to stop using its services. “Don’t deposit funds, don’t trade, don’t use API,” the notice reads, adding:

We are under a carefully planned attack, which has been prepared, as we assume, over the last few months. We lost control of all our servers, backend and nodes.

The notice continues, “we were not able to stop our service in time … We are working in contact with local police authorities. We really do our best to overcome this issue.”