Hackers have been targeting the cryptocurrency sector for years now and after the DAO fiasco they seem to be getting greedier and more capable - exposing weaknesses in new systems as soon as they become popular.

Steemit, the decentralized social media platform rewarding users for their work with cryptocurrency, has become the latest project to have fallen victim to a cyber attack according to its CEO Ned Scott.

Luckily the hack has been contained very quickly this time, with fewer than 260 accounts compromised, and less than $85,000 worth of Steem possibly stolen. Furthermore Scott announced that users whose accounts were compromised will be completely reimbursed.

They have reported the hack to police and other cyber crime authorities, including the FBI. Additionally, a full, internal investigation is currently being conducted and the Bittrex  Exchange   Exchange An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectively relevant with real-time pricing.Depending upon where you reside, an exchange may be referred to as a bourse or a share exchange while, as a whole, exchanges are present within the majority of countries. Who is Listed on an Exchange?As trading continues to transition more to electronic exchanges, transactions become more dispersed through varying exchanges. This in turn has caused a surge in the implementation of trading algorithms and high-frequency trading applications. In order for a company to be listed on a stock exchange for example, a company must divulge information such as minimum capital requirements, audited earnings reports, and financial reports.Not all exchanges are created equally, with some outperforming other exchanges significantly. The most high-profile exchanges to date include the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), the London Stock Exchange (LSE), and the Nasdaq. Outside of trading, a stock exchange may be used by companies aiming to raise capital, this is most commonly seen in the form of initial public offerings (IPOs).Exchanges can now handle other asset classes, given the rise of cryptocurrencies as a more popularized form of trading. An exchange is known as a marketplace that supports the trading of derivatives, commodities, securities, and other financial instruments.Generally, an exchange is accessible through a digital platform or sometimes at a tangible address where investors organize to perform trading. Among the chief responsibilities of an exchange would be to uphold honest and fair-trading practices. These are instrumental in making sure that the distribution of supported security rates on that exchange are effectively relevant with real-time pricing.Depending upon where you reside, an exchange may be referred to as a bourse or a share exchange while, as a whole, exchanges are present within the majority of countries. Who is Listed on an Exchange?As trading continues to transition more to electronic exchanges, transactions become more dispersed through varying exchanges. This in turn has caused a surge in the implementation of trading algorithms and high-frequency trading applications. In order for a company to be listed on a stock exchange for example, a company must divulge information such as minimum capital requirements, audited earnings reports, and financial reports.Not all exchanges are created equally, with some outperforming other exchanges significantly. The most high-profile exchanges to date include the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE), the London Stock Exchange (LSE), and the Nasdaq. Outside of trading, a stock exchange may be used by companies aiming to raise capital, this is most commonly seen in the form of initial public offerings (IPOs).Exchanges can now handle other asset classes, given the rise of cryptocurrencies as a more popularized form of trading. Read this Term is actively helping the investigation.

As a precaution, Bittrex has temporarily suspended the ability to deposit or withdrawal Steem and Steem Dollars from their exchange. The Bittrex team is said to be completing the analysis of Steemit's wallet and once it has passed their compliance checks, they will reopen the wallet for deposits and withdrawals.

Just a few days ago the total market capitalization of Steem surged from $13 million to a height of $260 million, shooting past  Ripple  Ripple Ripple was co-founded by Jed McCaleb and Chris Larsen and was debuted in 2012 as both a digital disbursement network and a pre-mined digital coin denoted as XRP. Possessing less market cap than both Bitcoin and Ethereum, Ripple ranks as the third-largest cryptocurrency.Its dual open-source and peer-to-peer (P2P) decentralized platform whose network is capable of working with any form of money such as GBP, Ethereum, Yen, etc. What is Ripple Used For? Known as a gateway, participants of Ripple may send and receive currencies to public digital address codes through the Ripple network. You can think of a gateway as a payment intermediary for Ripple. Serving as a bridge currency, XRP allows for a seamless exchange of any currency (fiat or cryptocurrency) due to each currency possessing its own gateways such as BitPay, CoinsBank, Blockonomics, and CoinGate. Unlike Bitcoin, the Ripple network does not support proof-of-work (PoW) or proof-of-stake (PoS) systems. Instead, a consensus protocol is employed to authenticate and verify that each transaction and account balance match.This ensures the integrity of the Ripple network while lessening the risk of double-spending, all while these confirmations take no longer than 4 seconds to complete.Ripple’s IOU gateway is similar to the traditional banking systems, where contractual obligations are upheld while the potential of transactions defaulting is a constant variable with counter-party risk. Coincidentally, banks are said to be increasing their usage of the Ripple payment system while its market cap shows evidence of its value and demand. All transactions performed over the Ripple network are logged and may be seen on the Ripple consensus ledger. For trading, XRP is generally traded in the form of CFDs. Ripple was co-founded by Jed McCaleb and Chris Larsen and was debuted in 2012 as both a digital disbursement network and a pre-mined digital coin denoted as XRP. Possessing less market cap than both Bitcoin and Ethereum, Ripple ranks as the third-largest cryptocurrency.Its dual open-source and peer-to-peer (P2P) decentralized platform whose network is capable of working with any form of money such as GBP, Ethereum, Yen, etc. What is Ripple Used For? Known as a gateway, participants of Ripple may send and receive currencies to public digital address codes through the Ripple network. You can think of a gateway as a payment intermediary for Ripple. Serving as a bridge currency, XRP allows for a seamless exchange of any currency (fiat or cryptocurrency) due to each currency possessing its own gateways such as BitPay, CoinsBank, Blockonomics, and CoinGate. Unlike Bitcoin, the Ripple network does not support proof-of-work (PoW) or proof-of-stake (PoS) systems. Instead, a consensus protocol is employed to authenticate and verify that each transaction and account balance match.This ensures the integrity of the Ripple network while lessening the risk of double-spending, all while these confirmations take no longer than 4 seconds to complete.Ripple’s IOU gateway is similar to the traditional banking systems, where contractual obligations are upheld while the potential of transactions defaulting is a constant variable with counter-party risk. Coincidentally, banks are said to be increasing their usage of the Ripple payment system while its market cap shows evidence of its value and demand. All transactions performed over the Ripple network are logged and may be seen on the Ripple consensus ledger. For trading, XRP is generally traded in the form of CFDs. Read this Term and Litecoin to become the 3rd most valuable cryptocurrency.