Hackers pull of mega-heist, swipe nearly $70 million worth of bitcoin

Cryptocurrency marketplace NiceHash has reported that nearly $70 million in bitcoin has been swiped from its service by hackers, a revelation that comes as bitcoin continues to climb to new heights of value.

NiceHash announced the thievery on their Facebook page, saying, "Clearly, this is a matter of deep concern and we are working hard to rectify the matter in the coming days."

NiceHash's head of marketing Andrej P. Škraba told the Wall Street Journal that an estimated 4,700 bitcoin were taken from the company's bitcoin wallet.

One thing to note: as the value of a bitcoin continues to go up, so, too does the value of the heist. As of post time, the value of a single bitcoin has surpassed $15,000 (with prices on some local Korean exchanges already topping $19,000), meaning the value of the heist has, for the time being, surpassed $70 million.

The rise of bitcoin's value has been so rapid and volatile (as are transaction fees) that some companies are no longer accepting the cryptocurrency as payment, including Steam, the digital gaming platform.

As Mashable's Stan Schroeder has pointed out, though, even as skepticism builds about a potential Bitcoin bubble, the cryptocurrency biz has exploded and it's unlikely that it will go away any time soon.