Troubled digital currency exchange Bitfinex is making good on its promise to reimburse its clients who lost funds following the recent bitcoin theft.
If you recall, Hong Kong-based Bitfinex lost 119,756 bitcoins—estimated to be worth more than $61 million at the time—during a security breach last August. This prompted the bitcoin exchange to “generalize losses across all accounts” on its system, meaning all Bitfinex users, even those who weren’t affected by the hack, will have a portion of their accounts replaced by the BFX token, which will remain outstanding until they are repaid in full by the digital currency exchange.
Now, Bitfinex announced that it has taken new steps to reimburse its clients via another special purpose vehicle, BFXTrust, courtesy of an effort organized by investor Alistair Milne. The digital currency exchange previously teamed up with UK investment platform BnkToTheFuture for a special purpose vehicle that will allow clients to redeem their BFX tokens for equity in iFinex Inc., at a value of $1 per BFX.
“BFXTrust is an SPV being formed by Alistair Milne to allow certain verified, non-U.S. Bitfinex users the ability to convert BFX to equity in iFinex in a similar manner to BnkToTheFuture,” the digital currency exchange said in a blog post.
Australia presides over blockchain standards initiative
Global standards for blockchain technology are coming, with Australia at the helm.
The Standards Australia group is poised to head discussions that will pave the way for the creation of an international blockchain standards. Dr. Bronwyn Evans, CEO of Standards Australia, said the group will act as secretariat of a technical committee and will be responsible for supporting interoperability among systems.
“Leading the ISO blockchain committee will place Australia in the perfect position to help inform, shape and influence the future direction of international standards to support the rollout and deployment of blockchain technology,” Evans said in a statement.
Creating an international blockchain standard will allow for greater market certainty and confidence, especially now that everyone in the world is convinced that blockchain will shape up not only banking and payments, but across different industries as well, including that of gambling.
Aside from Australia, U.S., Estonia, Japan and Korea have also joined the committee.
Current bitcoin price and trade volume
Popular digital currency bitcoin hovered around the $607 price point early Monday morning, with a trade volume of $21.43 million.
