Bitcoin mining marketplace NiceHash loses tens of millions of dollars following hack

Bitcoin is flying sky high after crossing the $14,000 mark for the first time, but one projected aimed at helping mine coins is short of at least $60 million after it was hacked.

NiceHash, a marketplace that matches those with spare computing to power to miners wanting to create new coins, has confirmed that it has hit by attackers who snatched bitcoin. The company has paused operations for 24 hours while it figures out exactly how much was swiped and how it was taken. Coindesk reports that users are circulating a wallet from the company that contains 4,736.42 BTC, worth more than $60 million based on today’s price.

The company is recommending that its users change their passwords — both on NiceHash and other services — following the breach.

Recent security issues in the crypto space have centered around Ethereum rather than bitcoin. A vulnerability in Parity’s wallet found in November caused $150 million in ETH to be frozen, while another Parity issue led to 150,000 ETH (then worth around $30 million) being stolen in July.