Hacked Hong Kong bitcoin exchange Bitfinex is looking to raise fresh funding to compensate users who lost out as a result of a $71 million currency theft last week. In the interim, the exchange is sharing the losses across its entire user community, carving a 36% chunk out of all depositor credits.
Bitfinex suspended trading across its site last week after discovering the theft of 119,756 bitcoin, replacing its home page with a security warning.
Over the weekend, the company began bringing the platform back online in a read-only format, enabling users to log into their accounts. Trading, depositing, and withdrawing remain disabled.
In a blog post to explain the remedial measures taken, Bitfinex states: "Due to the indiscriminate nature of the attack, we have decided to generalise losses across all accounts. Upon logging into the platform, customers will see that they have experienced a generalised loss percentage of 36.067%."
By way of compensation, the exchange is to issue customers with a token that may later be redeemed or exchanged for shares in its parent company.
The decision provoked a furious reaction on Reddit:
As it scrambles to rescue the situation, Bitfinex says that it is "actively talking with potential investors" about a potential capital raise.
"Raising capital is one strategy we are considering for making our customers whole," says the exchange. "These discussions are at an early stage and will take time."