Bitgrail In The Grey: Hacker Or Scam?

With business halted after an alleged hacking attack, Bitgrail has attempted to bounce back from the controversial shutdown, but without success. Meanwhile, cryptocurrency investors lay in wait to recuperate millions of dollars in missing funds.

When Bitgrail, the cryptocurrency exchange founded in Italy, ceased operations in February as a consequence of a hacking attack, those with investments in the company were left with fear for the future of their stakes. On May 2nd, despite the bankruptcy proceedings in progress, Bitgrail attempted to resume business but was immediately blockaded by order of the Court of Florence.

Background

In early February of this year the global cryptocurrency exchange Bitgrail ceased operations of the global trading portal after an alleged cyber attack. Founder Francesco Firano claims the hack resulted in a theft of 17 million Nanos (XRB), a value of approximately 150 million euros at the time. Firano subsequently approached Nano developers, asking them to modify their accounts ledger in order to cover the losses of the hack. Nano promptly declined the request and alerted authorities of the theft.

Controversy resulted, and questions of responsibility for the attack were raised; was the hack possible due to a vulnerability in Bitgrail's security, or a weakness in Nano's blockchain?

Accusations

Nano's response to the controversy was to absolve itself of wrongdoing by publishing communications between Firano and nano developers, along with commenting on the ordeal saying that they had reason to believe that Firano was deliberately "misleading the Nano Core Team and the community regarding the solvency of the BitGrail exchange for a significant period of time". Furthermore, the Nano Foundation highlighted several questionable occurrences in Bitgrail's operations:

Versions of the amount of funds stolen altered several times since the attack. Bitgrail customers reported difficulties in withdrawing their funds prior...