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The popular cryptocurrency exchange, Bitfinex, has gone under sudden unscheduled maintenance. As the price of Bitcoin continues to struggle at around $8,700, the exchange suspects that it might be undergoing a DDoS attack.
Bitfinex Goes Down
Bitfinex is arguably one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges. According to an official release on their website, as well as an announcement on their Twitter page, the exchange is currently “under maintenance.”
We are investigating what seems like a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack. We will keep everyone updated on here and our status page http://t.co/u3pYCVVGQq as we know more.
— Bitfinex (@bitfinex) February 28, 2020
Per the information currently available, the exchange might be put through a DDoS attack. This stands for a distributed denial-of-service. It is a malicious attempt from an outside party to disrupt the normal traffic of a targeted server, service, or network. This is done by overwhelming the target or, possibly, its surrounding infrastructure, with a flood of Internet traffic.
To be effective, DDoS attacks take advantage of multiple compromised computer systems as sources of the attacking traffic. These exploited machines could, in theory, include computers, as well as other networked resources.
Not The Only One
Bitfinex is not the only popular exchange that’s currently going through some hurdles. OKEx also went through an unscheduled system main today at 08:40 UTC, and it was supposed to take 40 minutes.
According to the official release, the exchange is integrating a system update, which is “for the purpose of better service quality and trading experience.”
In any case, all of this happens as Bitcoin struggles at the $8,700 level. The price attempted to break above $9,000 overnight but to no success.
It’s interesting to see whether or not the recent temporary shut-downs are going to have any consequences. Moreover, it’s essential to understand whether the scale of the purported DDoS attack on Bitfinex is large and if it would cause serious problems.
UPDATE:
Services on the Bitfinex platform have been resumed. All the issues have been reportedly resolved, while the exchange implemented new measures in aims to prevent future DDoS attacks.
Services on the Bitfinex platform have resumed. We implemented a stricter protection level as a result of our platform coming under a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack. All issues relating to the DDoS attack have now been resolved.
— Bitfinex (@bitfinex) February 28, 2020