Bitstamp reopens Bitcoin exchange, adds security precautions

Major Bitcoin exchange Bitstamp reopened its virtual doors late Friday, four days after it suspended services because of an online theft of 19,000 bitcoins valued at more than $5 million.

Bitstamp, the second largest Bitcoin exchange for US dollars, moved its system to Amazon’s cloud services and added additional security features to make compromises more difficult, Bitstamp’s CEO Nejc Kodrič said in a statement on the company’s website.

“By redeploying our system from a secure backup onto entirely new hardware, we were able to preserve the evidence for a full forensic investigation of the crime,” he said. “While this decision means we have not been able to provide you with services for a number of days, we feel this extra measure of precaution was in the best interest of our customers.”

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