South Korean exchange Coinrail says hit by hackers, bitcoin slides

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinrail said it was hacked over the weekend, prompting an extended sell-off of bitcoin to a 2-month low amid growing concerns about security at small- to mid-sized virtual currency exchanges. In a statement on its website on Monday, Coinrail said its system was under “cyber intrusion,” causing a loss for about 30 percent of the coins traded on the exchange. It did not quantify its value, but said the hack occurred . The statement also said the exchange is fully cooperating with a police investigation into the hacking, and that trading has been suspended for now. On the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp, bitcoin  was last trading at $6,763.96, down a sharp 11.2 percent from Friday, having fallen roughly 65 percent from its all-time peak hit around mid-December 2017. The hacking attack on Coinrail comes after Japan’s cyrptocurrency exchange Coincheck was hacked earlier this year in a high-profile theft of its digital currency.