It seems the BitGrail drama is far from over at this point. While an official court case is underway, it remains doubtful that users who suffered as a result of the Nano hack will ever see their money returned. To make matters even more interesting, it seems the Court of Florence has confiscated all Bitcoins belonging to the company.
More BitGrail Drama Unfolds
Ever since the Italian BtiGrail exchange was allegedly hacked, there have been growing concerns as to how this situation would evolve. Since day one, there have been a lot of people who claim the BitGrail owner stole the money and decided to defraud exchange users. Considering that BitGrail was the largest Nano trading platform at that time, such speculation is not unfounded by any means.
However, the owner of this exchange platform has always denied involvement in the hack. According to him, the Nano developers are at fault for backdooring their coin and allowing hackers to take advantage of weaknesses found in the code. Things got so heated that an official lawsuit was filed against the Nano developers, although not much has come of it.
Even so, it seems the ongoing BitGrail investigation has taken another interesting turn over the past few days. The company posted a new update on its website explaining that the Court of Florence has ordered the Bitcoins contained in the company’s wallets to be seized. This balance is now under the control of the local judicial authorities, and it is possible this money will be used to address the company’s pre-bankruptcy proceedings.
Indeed, it would be rather interesting to see BitGrail file for bankruptcy as a result of the Nano hack. If the company is actually going bankrupt, it seems likely that the Bitcoin held by the company will be used to reimburse customers first and foremost. Whether or not there are enough funds to cover all of the losses is a different matter altogether. Despite reopening in early May, BitGrail was forced to shut down within 24 hours by the Court of Florence.
All of these developments will not please too many victims of the Nano hack. If BitGrail goes bankrupt, these users will have even less success in reclaiming their lost money. The bigger question is who was responsible for this hack in the first place, and whether or not the BitGrail exchange owner could – or should – have done things differently. It is evident a lot of unanswered questions will remain moving forward.
For the BitGrail company, it seems things are coming to a close sooner than anyone had expected. Whether the firm will be declared bankrupt or the hack will be written off as a “net loss” remains to be seen. The hack itself is another example of how centralized trading platforms are a weak point in the cryptocurrency industry. Decentralized trading needs to become the new normal sooner rather than later; that much is rather evident.