The digital currency Bitcoin plunged on Wednesday after Bitfinex, an exchange based in Hong Kong, said it had been hacked and funds stolen.
The exchange said it had halted trading, deposits and withdrawals while it investigated which users had been affected. Bitcoin’s trading value fell about 20 percent early on Wednesday, local time in Hong Kong, but had recovered about half the loss by early afternoon.
Zane Tackett, Bitfinex’s director of community and product development, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. But he said in a posting on Reddit that 119,756 Bitcoins had been stolen.
