CoinSecure Exchange Hack

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What’s the opposite of multi-sig? Its one private key shared among multiple people - exactly the control structure on this exchange. Having a joint account like this means either party can screw the other and anyone else by taking the money, whenever they feel like. As a fork of bitcoin, bitcoin gold also supports multi-sig using the exact same signatures, so there is no excuse for this kind of carelessness when it comes to client funds. If you were an unfortunate victim of this exchange, you had a 5 day period in which to submit claims (including signing away all future liability), after which you were just plain out of luck for your losses.

This exchange or platform is based in India, or the incident targeted people primarily in India.

About CoinSecure

“In what may be the biggest virtual currency exchange heist in India to date, 438 bitcoin (BTC), currently worth $3.5 million, have gone missing from Coinsecure, and the exchange thinks an employee has run off with the money.” "According to a statement on the company’s website, the funds were lost as a result of the exposure of private keys, the cryptographic code that unlocks and moves blockchain-based assets, by the company’s chief security officer Dr. Amitabh Saxena in an attempt to distribute bitcoin gold (BTG) to customers." “Coinsecure has made it clear they will reimburse customers in one way or another. Option one is more favorable as it would result in the stolen money being returned. If that were to happen, customer balances will be corrected by the exchange automatically.” “However, if recovery of siphoned BTC is not possible, then we will apply the lock in rates as of the 9th of April, 2018. 10% of the Coin Holding Balance will be refunded in BTC and 90% will be returned in INR.” “Customers who were affected by the early April heist ware required to sign an agreement that, controversially, absolves the exchange operator of any future inabilities and turned in physically to Coinsecure’s office before June 30th, 2019.” “We will not entertain any claims received after June 30, 2018 and we shall have no liability towards any users who try to submit claims after the said date.”

This exchange or platform is based in India, or the incident targeted people primarily in India.

The background of the exchange platform, service, or individuals involved, as it would have been seen or understood at the time of the events.

Include:

• Known history of when and how the service was started.
• What problems does the company or service claim to solve?
• What marketing materials were used by the firm or business?
• Audits performed, and excerpts that may have been included.
• Business registration documents shown (fake or legitimate).
• How were people recruited to participate?
• Public warnings and announcements prior to the event.

Don't Include:

• Any wording which directly states or implies that the business is/was illegitimate, or that a vulnerability existed.
• Anything that wasn't reasonably knowable at the time of the event.

There could be more than one section here. If the same platform is involved with multiple incidents, then it can be linked to a main article page.

The Reality

This sections is included if a case involved deception or information that was unknown at the time. Examples include:

• When the service was actually started (if different than the "official story").
• Who actually ran a service and their own personal history.
• How the service was structured behind the scenes. (For example, there was no "trading bot".)
• Details of what audits reported and how vulnerabilities were missed during auditing.

What Happened

The specific events of the loss and how it came about. What actually happened to cause the loss and some of the events leading up to it.

Key Event Timeline - CoinSecure Exchange Hack

Date	Event	Description
April 1st, 2018 12:00:59 AM MDT	Main Event	Expand this into a brief description of what happened and the impact. If multiple lines are necessary, add them here.

Total Amount Lost

The total amount lost has been estimated at $3,300,000 USD.

How much was lost and how was it calculated? If there are conflicting reports, which are accurate and where does the discrepancy lie?

Immediate Reactions

How did the various parties involved (firm, platform, management, and/or affected individual(s)) deal with the events? Were services shut down? Were announcements made? Were groups formed?

Ultimate Outcome

What was the end result? Was any investigation done? Were any individuals prosecuted? Was there a lawsuit? Was any tracing done?

Total Amount Recovered

There do not appear to have been any funds recovered in this case.

What funds were recovered? What funds were reimbursed for those affected users?

Ongoing Developments

What parts of this case are still remaining to be concluded?

General Prevention Policies

Coming soon.

Individual Prevention Policies

No specific policies for individual prevention have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as an individual, check our Prevention Policies for Individuals guide.

Platform Prevention Policies

Policies for platforms to take to prevent this situation have not yet been selected in this case.

For the full list of how to protect your funds as a financial service, check our Prevention Policies for Platforms guide.

Regulatory Prevention Policies

No specific regulatory policies have yet been identified in this case.

For the full list of regulatory policies that can prevent loss, check our Prevention Policies for Regulators guide.