QuickBit, a popular Swedish cryptocurrency exchange has confirmed earlier reports that the data of almost 300k users was hacked and leaked online. The exchange has not reported missing funds, fiat or crypto, yet. Cryptocurrencies are legal in Sweden as in most of Europe and identification is required from traders to start trading on an exchange. 

In a post on its site, QuickBit reported that their third party data contractor left their users’ data unprotected during a security upgrade which the hackers were able to exploit. The hacked data included sensitive information like full names, addresses, email addresses, user gender, and dates of birth. The exchange stated that neither QuickBit nor its customers were harmed. 

The exchange also confirmed that:

• No passwords or social security numbers were exposed. 
• No complete account or credit card information were exposed. 
• No complete account or credit card information were exposed. 
• No cryptocurrency or keys were exposed. 
• No financial transactions were affected.  

The exchange also goes on to claim that data of only 2% of the traders has been exposed in the recent hack but that claim is not yet verified by independent observers. 

Personal Data Targeted

A majority of previous exchange hacks have reported monetary losses. The biggest hacks usually involve tens and hundreds of millions of dollars stolen, such as the hack of Coincheck that resulted in the loss of over $500 million worth of NEM tokens. In this case, however, personal data seems to have been the intended target of traders. 

Quickbit is publicly listed in the Swedish stock market and has an initial valuation of SEK 207 million ($22m). During the recent hack, the stock price went down by 6.4% from 7.56 SEK (Swedish Krona) to 7.06 SEK before recovering by 4.8% to 7.4 SEK according to stock Business Insider Markets Portal. The timely handling of the exchange and no funds missing were the possible reasons behind the sharp recovery after initial losses.