The only Bitcoin exchange platform in Romania suspends activity due to "hijacking by programmer"

BTCXchange, the only Romanian platform to trade virtual currency Bitcoin, temporarily suspends its activity, according to an announcement posted on btcxchange.ro. “We apologize for any inconvenience caused in recent days. Unfortunately, our main programmer took control over the servers, refusing to hand it over on his resignation,” reads the announcement. On Friday, December 19, BTCXchange said it appealed to legal institutions for solving this matter, and until regaining access, the BTCXchange and BTCXpay services will not be available. There is no risk of insolvency for the platform and until the access is regained, all withdrawal activities are being checked manually. “After regaining accesses, we will suspend the activity for a short period of time in order to technically evaluate servers. We estimate the revival of services at the end of January 2015,” says the announcement. In previous announcements, posted on the website on December 16 and December 17, BTCXchange asked its clients to withdraw money from the platform, due to security reasons. According to data on btcxchange.ro, over 5.1 million bitcoins have been traded on the platform this year, with a total value of RON 8.3 million (some EUR 1.8 million). Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com