Last night, crypto trading platform BitMEX sent around a mass email to its users but failed to hide the recipients of the email, exposing the email addresses of its entire userbase.
With privacy one of the utmost concerns of crypto investors, the entire community is rightfully upset with the notorious margin trading platform and have taken to social media to voice concerns that the market leader is losing its touch.
BitMEX Leaks Email Accounts of Thousands of Crypto Investors
Despite the platform’s “insurance fund” growing rapidly with each surge in volatility that leads to droves of liquidations, BitMEX has not had the best year in 2019.
Related Reading | BitMEX Bitcoin Volume Slumps 33% After CFTC Investigation
The platform’s CEO Arthur Hayes squared off against widely respected economist Nouriel “Dr. Doom” Roubini in what was dubbed “The Tangle in Taipei,” and since then, everything has been downhill. The crypto community was ashamed at how Hayes represented the space, and seemingly making a public fool of Roubini appears to have backfired and caused BitMEX to draw unwanted attention from United States regulators, prompting an investigation from the CFTC.
BitMEX just doxxed its users in the most outrageously incompetent way imaginable: forgetting to use blind copy on mass email. Someone must be cleaning out their desk already. https://t.co/KmARzImxnk
— Jake Chervinsky (@jchervinsky) November 1, 2019
But this is only the start of the issues, which in the past 24 hours have escalated to DEFCON levels, prompting users to express disgust with the platform publicly via social media.
Putting the privacy of their users – and perhaps the safety and security of their customer’s assets – at risk, the platform last night sent out a mass-email that contained the email addresses of all of the platform’s users for the entire world to see.
Hacker groups on Telegram have already emerged, poking fun at users for using the same email address to register for things like dating sites, or worse. These hackers are just having fun for now, however, things could get a lot more malicious and assets be targeted. All hackers would need now is to crack the password to one of the many email accounts, and hope the one they get through doesn’t have two-factor authentication set up.
BitMEX’s twitter account was just hacked.
While it probably wasn’t the exchange itself, just remember:
Not your keys, not your bitcoin. pic.twitter.com/yFGWzmIREb
— Rhythm (@Rhythmtrader) November 1, 2019
Hackers Gain Control of Platform’s Twitter Account, What’s Next?
Pouring salt in the fresh wound, BitMEX’s Twitter account was then hacked, with the hackers leaving a note of their existence, then telling all users to transfer their funds off the platform as soon as possible.
Incredible. Mex, always held as the bastion of exchanges in absolute shambles today. The problem is CT will simply forget about this with the next major price action.
Data breaches, hacking, incompetence. Utter disgrace, it’s schoolboy shit.
I won’t be returning to Mex.
— Cold Blooded Shiller (@ColdBloodShill) November 1, 2019
The entire situation is spiraling out of control, and it’s caused some of the industry’s most respected traders to speak out, condemning the once crypto leader, suggesting that a collapse is underway, and a demise is imminent.
Related Reading | Bitcoin Pumps by $800 in 20 Minutes: $150 Million in BitMEX Shorts Liquidated
But as many, more reasonable traders point out, issues have plagued BitMEX for some time, yet traders regularly return there to get rekt. The next time that they do get rekt, it may not be because their account was liquidated due to trade gone wrong, it could be from hackers emptying out accounts that BitMEX itself exposed.