‘Hacked’ crypto exchange gives 2 months to claim refunds

Russian crypto exchange Livecoin is closing its doors for good, leaving frustrated users unable to recover their funds.

In December, Livecoin disclosed hackers had taken control of its servers to artificially inflate the price of Bitcoin to $450,000.

According to Livecoin, the attack caused debilitating technical and financial damage from which it cannot recover. 

This is supposedly corroborated by a spooky message posted to Livecoin’s website that reads “Oops! Time is over for Livecoin…”

Livecoin then claimed the attackers cashed out user accounts with ridiculously high profits, however the exact circumstances around those transactions was never disclosed.

Via the exchange’s new domain (Livecoin’s only public channel), users are told they have just two months to make reimbursement claims, and must do so by forwarding their account usernames and dates of registration.

But the unorthodox process has already caused problems for more skeptical traders. Others have reported losing that information, leaving them unable to demand refunds.

[Read more: Hackers taunt Russian crypto exchange, demand Bitcoin]

Livecoin advises affected users to ignore any communication asking for money or personal details.

But sadly, nobody knows what to believe or who to trust — with some adamant the whole saga is really a heavily orchestrated exit scam.