Key facts
- In 2011, a hacker caused Bitcoin's price to plummet on the Mt. Gox exchange.
- The price drop was from $17 to $0.01.
- The exploit utilized a single stolen auditor password.
- Mt. Gox rolled back all transactions to recover from the incident.
- The exchange's user database was previously leaked and offered for sale.
On this day in 2011, a significant security breach occurred on the cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox, which saw Bitcoin's price crash from $17 to $0.01 in a matter of minutes. The exploit was reportedly carried out by a hacker who used a single stolen auditor password. In response to the drastic price drop and the exploit, Mt. Gox rolled back all transactions that had occurred during the incident. This event took place just days after the full user database of Mt. Gox was discovered to be for sale on the Pastebin platform, indicating a broader security vulnerability at the exchange.