Crypto Exchange Bitfinex Attributes Unexpected Outage to ‘Connectivity’ Issues

 Earlier today, February 9, Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange  Bitfinex went down for about two hours, at a time in which most top  cryptocurrencies were moving up. To clarify the situation to its users,  Bitfinex has now attributed the outage to ‘connectivity’ issues.After  the exchange went down, the company revealed via microblogging platform  Twitter that its platform was unavailable to “some of its users,” but  soon clarified it was unavailable to everyone. 

 Soon after, the exchange brought its platform back online and  revealed the issue was related to “connectivity.” In a blog post  clarifying the occurrence, Bitfinex claimed it understands downtime can  be “incredibly frustrating,” especially during times in which the crypto  market is moving a lot.      The exchange went down as LTC’s recent price jump, which saw it gain over 30% in a 24-hour period, was helping the crypto market add over $10 billion. Its post reads:

Our team identified and responded to the situation immediately and  worked unremittingly to bring full service back as quickly as feasibly  possible. Your safety is our top priority and we can confirm that all  funds were safe during this period.   

To help traders deal with the issue, Bitfinex then  called all of its support staff online to handle customer queries. Per  the cryptocurrency exchange, the issue has been resolved and is being  investigated “to prevent a repeat.”The incident scared various  cryptocurrency traders, as some believe Bitfinex – which shares  management with Tether – may be insolvent as they claim the firm doesn’t  have the $2 billion USD to cover all USDT tokens in circulation.Late last year, the crypto exchange halted fiat deposits, which saw BTC be traded at a premium of over $100  against USDT compared to the USD. After the panic caused the  Bitcoin-Tether premium to hit an all-time high, Bitfinex put out a statement clarifying the situation.