Million-dollar robbery rocks Bitcoin exchange
Bitcoin Internet Payment Services, a Denmark-based exchange billing itself as Europe's biggest, was robbed of bitcoins worth more than $1 million in a theft that took place over the course of the past several days.
Bitcoins are a decentralized digital currency generated by computers “mining” for the solutions to complex math problems, and authenticated on a peer-to-peer basis – not by a central banking authority. It’s the third major heist this month – about $1.4 million worth was stolen several weeks ago from an anonymous Australian who ran an online wallet service known as Inputs.io, and a Chinese exchange abruptly vanished two weeks ago, taking more than $4 million with it.