Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino confirms supposed database breach was 'fake'

After initially suspecting it, Bitfinex's chief technology officer, Paolo Ardoino, has now definitively confirmed that the allegations of a database breach were "fake."

"As I said on Saturday, Bitfinex's user database was not breached," Ardoino told The Block. "We spent the weekend reviewing all internal data to avoid leaving any stone unturned. We concluded that the claim was fake, as suspected from the beginning."

The "fake" claims of the Bitfinex data breach spread on social media on Saturday, apparently after Alice of Shinoji Research tweeted that Bitfinex was the subject of a large-scale data breach, as the hacking group FSociety claimed on Apr. 26.

The now-deleted tweet was picked up by Walter Bloomberg, a breaking news account with over 732,000 followers. Citing Shinoji Research, Walter Bloomberg tweeted that Bitfinex's data containing 2.5 Terabytes of information and personal details of 400,000 users was hacked.

Alice of Shinoji Research has now corrected the record, saying they jumped the gun. "Removed the original BFX [Bitfinex] hack post as I'm not able to edit it," Alice said. "What appears to have happened is this 'Flocker' group curated a list of Bitfinex logins from other breaches. They then made the site look like a ransom demand for a major breach."

Ardoino reiterated in his comments to The Block that Bitfinex's user database was not breached and that the alleged hackers posted a list of emails and passwords stolen from other breaches. "Unfortunately, many users use the same email/password across many services, including crypto exchanges," Ardoino said.