Bitcoin and Ethereum plummet after Coinrail hack

The prices of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and all other major cryptocurrencies have experienced big drops in the last 24 hours, following the news that South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinrail has been hacked.

In a statement on its website Monday, Coinrail said that hackers stole up to 30% of the coins from its storage.

According to Coinrail, the hackers struck on June 10 and made away with a number of different cryptocoins, including the recently launched Pundi X (NPXS), which makes roughly two thirds of Coinrail's trading volume. Korea's Yonhap estimated that a total of 40 billion won ($37.2 million) of coins went missing.

Coinrail is a fairly small exchange with roughly $2.5 million in daily volume according to CoinMarketCap. "(Coinrail) is a minor player in the market and I can see how such small exchanges with lower standards on security level can be exposed to more risks," Reuters quoted Kim Jin-Hwa, a representative at Korea Blockchain Industry Association, as saying. Coinrail said it is cooperating with the police investigating the hack and said it will release an announcement with more details as soon as possible.

The cryptocurrency markets tumbled sharply following the news, with Bitcoin dropping from $7,240 to $6,752 in less than two hours, with the current price being $6,794. The second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, Ethereum, dropped from $570 to $511 before recovering slightly to $533.

Other major cryptocurrencies experienced a similar drop. EOS, the fifth largest currency by market cap, had it worst of all: It plummeted 15% in the last 24 hours, and is currently trading at $11.2. EOS's price drop is notable as this cryptocurrency is currently in the process of launching its main blockchain network (also known as mainnet) after having raised a reported $4 billion in a year-long initial coin offering (ICO), dwarfing all similar crowdfunding efforts.

The Coinrail theft is the fourth major cryptocurrency exchange hack this year. In January, $400 million worth of cryptocurrency was stolen from Japanese exchange Coincheck, and in February, $200 million worth of cryptocurrency went missing from Italian cryptocurrency exchange Bitgrail. In April, cryptocurrency exchange Coinsecure said some $3.3 million worth of Bitcoin were stolen from its wallet.

The total market cap of all cryptocurrencies has descended below $300 billion for the first time since early April; it currently stands at $297 billion.

Disclosure: The author of this text owns, or has recently owned, a number of cryptocurrencies, including BTC and ETH.