Source: bloomberg.com
On Tuesday, the company behind Tether announced that the exchange was attacked and tokens from the Tether Treasury wallet were sent to an unauthorized bitcoin address. Tether is a cryptocurrency used by bitcoin exchanges to facilitate trades with fiat currencies. Tether has a market capitalization of $675 million and is ranked as the world's 20th most valuable virtual currency. The tokens are pegged to fiat currencies allowing users to store and transfer globally and instantly. The company behind Tether said that the tokens are 100% backed by fiat currencies.
Bitcoin's value took a hit, about $500 but it rebounded later in the day. Bitcoin reached a high of $8,339 in New York trading. So it appears that the hack, although significant, was short term. The hack did fuel the claims that cryptocurrencies maybe too insecure to be consider for use as a mainstream financial trading instrument.
