South Korean crypto exchange Upbit has reopened Ethereum deposit and withdrawal services following the attack that resulted in the theft of around $50 million worth of digital currencies.
According to the official announcement, the digital asset exchange has updated its Ethereum wallet’s security system and has introduced new addresses for deposit. With this, previously used addresses became obsolete.
Deposit & withdrawal of #ETH is now available. New deposit address is required. Thank you for your patience. more info at : https://t.co/ujW2ajsd5f pic.twitter.com/Xuqf6NTHCq
— Upbit Global (@upbitglobal) January 13, 2020
Upbit was hacked at the end of last November, resulting in the theft of 342,000 Ether, then worth around $50 million. The hot wallets of the exchange were compromised by hackers, and thus, the platform suspended all deposits and withdrawals until now.
Following the hack, the platform transferred all its holdings from its hot wallets to much secure cold wallets.
The South Korean exchange last week enabled similar services for - Litecoin, Ripple, and EOS. Given the attack on Ethereum wallets, the exchange has taken extra precaution for the security of its wallets.
“A new wallet system has been adopted for deposit and withdrawal Cryptocurrencies ,” Upbit stated. “It is difficult to specify whether to open or withdraw items one by one or all at once in the future.”
Despite the loss in millions, the exchange assured a full refund to its users with its corporate assets.
Struggling for proper regulations
Meanwhile, the country's authorities are pushing to bring regulations for the wild crypto industry. Multiple crucial bill drafts are in the pipeline for approval from the lawmakers.
However, multiple agencies are struggling to impose taxation on crypto earnings properly. Earlier this month, the Ministry of Finance and Strategy clarified that the country would not tax on earnings from digital asset trading under the current laws.
Despite the lack of any assessment standard for crypto businesses, the tax authority of the country last month slapped Bithumb with $69 million in withholding taxes.
