Topic: is Bitfinex still trusted? (Read 3212 times)

That is actually the current cold storage address for bitfinex. It is not the stolen/hacked coins.

edit: I just checked, and the last time any of the stolen coins moved out of the addresses they were sent to in the August hack was in March of this year.

Follow the hacked coins: https://blockchain.info/address/3D2oetdNuZUqQHPJmcMDDHYoqkyNVsFk9r

Absolutely no! You can compare price per point rates with other exchanges and see difference.Huge spreads,comissions etc

I would like to address this point of yours specifically

Theoretically, we can talk about these two approaches, though on a pure theoretical basis the first approach (i.e. never trusting a hacked exchange again) is certainly a preferable mode of action unless (and this is a crucial point here) you have additional info which could change your stance. In practice, the choice obviously depends on whether a hacked exchange did really improve their security policies, but without relevant knowledge staying away should be preferred. For example, Bter had been hacked twice within a year (or even within half a year), so trading there is likely an exercise in a sort of masochism

deposit and withdraw in bitfinex normal or not
how long proces withdraw in there

To answer the original poster's question:

1. Clearly as a matter of fact, yes:

a. Bitfinex currently commands between 30% and 50% (varying from day to day) of the entire USD/BTC exchange market. A large number  of traders clearly trust the exchange. The exchange is highly profitable and its USD/BTC book is the deepest there is.

b. Customers (includiing me) who were hacked have since exchanged tokens for US$ 50 million equity in the company. Again this suggests a high degree of confidence.

2. As regards their current levels of security, the hack was achieved by exploiting a vulnerability in Bitgo which (not surprisingly) Bitfinex no longer use.

3. More broadly, you can take two views. One is that if an exchange has been hacked then that shows its security is poor and so it should never be trusted again. The other view is that a hacked exchange is likely to take every possible step to ensure that nothing like it ever happens again.  I take the second view, but both views are legitimate.

4. Given the scale of the hack, losses to customers were minimal. The original haircut was 37% but BFX tokens are now trading at almost 85 cents in the dollar so the net loss at current figures is 0.15 x 37% = ~ 5% which seems likely to fall to zero before the end of the year.

5. Personal/contact details and information are available for all key personnel. I find that reassuring and quite unusual in this industry.

Just my thoughts.

Once bitten twice shy

I would still not trust them. I read here about some guy who had been using his Bitfinex account as a web wallet (don't ask me why he was doing that) even after the exchange had got hacked. Not surprisingly that he ended up with his funds being locked by the exchange. He was desperately trying to withdraw his funds but he didn't write whether they returned the funds or not. The lesson to take home is that after something fishy happens stay away from it as far as possible

People are claiming that since the hack security have been improved, bugs fixed, and the service is running smoothly. On the other and it´s still a bit cloudy if it was indeed a hack or an inside job.

Keep the coins in your own wallet and only put the coins in exchanges if you are really planning on trading. Don´t use it as a wallet just to old the coins.

It is not the exchange IP's

The IP you see in the shapshot (i.e 83.239.58.162) is the poster's IP, his Internet provider is Rostelecom, the largest Internet provider in Russia (actually, the company belongs to the Russian government). The btc-e.com IP is 104.23.131.83, and access to this IP was restricted by the St.Petersburg court ruling, so you can't access the exchange by that address from Russia (at least through official Internet providers). The poster probably uses an anonymiser or proxy server (maybe, a vpn) to reach the exchange (or he is downright accessing btc-e through one of their alternative addresses, i.e. not .com address)

Once an exchange already got some problems in the past, please considered that for future use and for reference purposes about standards in choosing bitcoin exchange.

They are operating now but in the future Im expecting some big fraud activity with them. Im really dissapointed in their last problem and convert all my funds into tokens. I leaved that exchanges already and transfer to another one.

Ok so you found the IP address of their site. Can you take it down? How sure are you that they do not have backup servers? Also how can you stop them? They are anonymous and can start another exchange with a different name. Unlike Bitfinex we know who the founders are and where to find them.

Are you sure that you are using exactly this address (https://btc-e.com) for accessing btc-e?

Please check this address again and that you don't use a proxy, vpn, anonymizer or something to that tune. Some add-ons for Firefox allow you to use anonymizers only for specific sites (you might be using one). You can see for yourself here that the access to the exchange is blocked for Russian users according to a court ruling. Obviously, that was a moronic decision by any means (as the whole idea of limiting access to sites in Internet), but it is there

i just tried it with a Russian IP address and i successfully accessed btc-e.com and there was no problem with the access and/or log in.

After the events surrounding Bitfinex, I started to rely less on exchanges, since Bitfinex itself was considered one of the best. Shortly thereafter, there were problems related to Coinbase, not technical problems, but legal problems. But it seems like things are under control at the moment. Anyway, I would not leave money standing for too long in an exchange.

But since when is running a Bitcoin exchange legal too? Everything is in the grey area and there is nothing that will stop the government from slamming your door down and arrest you. Remember Charlie Shrem? I bet you do. He was imprisoned for running and "illegal" payment processor. What stops the people from using Bitcoin exchanges to launder their money? That is another angle law enforcement can look into. With BTCe the owners are safe from any indictment because they are hiding under the shroud of anonymity.

It is the same with any bank out there, not just with Sberbank

You obviously miss my point completely. I don't mean to say that the banks don't know the identity of people or the companies that opened these accounts, I say that they may appear to not be affiliated with btc-e. You may use a lot of fly-by-night companies as intermediaries between you and your clients if you want to retain anonymity. Sberbank's chairman, Herman Greff (an ethnic German, by the way) has (or had) some bitcoins himself, so I wouldn't be surprised if Sberbank turned out to be behind btc-e at the end of the day


Just in case, the btce-e.com domain is not accessible from Russia (Russian users should use another address)

one of their accounts are in Cбepбaнкa Poccии which is an state owned bank in Moscow. and when you have such an account you no longer are unknown entity.
but anyways, i am not here to defend btc-e or bash it. i have been using it and it has the same risks as any other exchange out there.


what the hell are you talking about? imprisonment? since when running a bitcoin exchange has been illegal?

Many here look like they underestimate the way BTCe is run. The people who run it have already figured everything out. From how to evade the laws and what loop holes to use to avoid imprisonment. They are also protected by the most important item of all, their anonymity. Maybe Satoshi is behind BTCe.

to me i think yes bitfiex recover its position and not it is trading in a very very good mode.

At least Bitfinex continues on refunding BFX