As a user myself, Hotbit is a fairly good exchange... when it's up.
But I would by lying if I said this wasn't getting annoying. For the second time now it appears users will be locked out for a potential extended period of time, possibly lasting weeks, or months.
Last time (see our coverage here) hackers gained access to their servers, but not access to withdraw any user funds. It seems like this angered them, so they decided to destroy everything they did have access to - which was basically the entire exchange system. They were down for weeks.
This time time it wasn't a security breach, but a much wilder explanation:
"The reason is that a former Hotbit management employee who left Hotbit in April this year was involved in a project last year(which was against Hotbit's internal principles and of which Hotbit was unknown) that law enforcement authorities now think is suspected of violating criminal laws. So, a number of Hotbit senior managers have been subpoenaed by law enforcement since the end of July and are assisting in the investigation. Furthermore, law enforcement has frozen some funds of Hotbit, which has prevented Hotbit from running normally.
Hotbit and the rest employees of Hotbit's management are not involved in the project and have no knowledge of the illegal information involved in the project. However, we are still actively cooperating with the law enforcement authorities in their investigations and are continuously communicating with them through our lawyers and applying for the release of the frozen assets. The assets of all users are safe on Hotbit."
As far as when users can access their funds, Hotbit clearly does not know, only saying "Hotbit will resume normal service as soon as the assets are unfrozen" whenever that may be.
Funds are safe...
Last time I was ready to hear it was all another exit scam and that my funds were gone for good, then the site came back and everything was still in my wallet. So, with fingers crossed, I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt this time.
According to Hotbit "All user’s assets and data on Hotbit are secure and correct" and they shared this link for more details on how user funds will be handled.
There is mention of a 'compensation plan' for users, but no details on what that would be based on.
Those with staked assets and investment product deposits will supposedly continue to earn like normal during this downtime.
Users with concerns are invited to contact them here.
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Author: Adam Lee
Asia News Desk / Breaking Crypto News
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