Cryptocurrency store e-coin.io has announced that it will close down as a result of a cyber threat, citing insufficient funds to pay its staff.
The online store, which was previously listed on CoinDesk, is currently offering bitcoin and litecoin trading services.
“Due to the lack of funds we will be unable to continue our business operation, we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you,” the store wrote in a statement to CoinDesk.
“We are working hard to restore the company’s infrastructure and services and will be fully operational again once we have more funds.”
The statement continued: “We will be contacting our customers as soon as we can and will have no further comment at this time.
We are extremely sorry for any disruption this may have caused.”
In March, e-currency exchange Coinlab shut down after the hackers used its website to infect the server hosting it, and later threatened to steal customer funds.
According to a statement from the company, its “primary goal” is to “protect and support our customers from cyber threats and any other cyber attack”.
“The business will be shutting down immediately.
The employees will be offered jobs elsewhere, and the company will continue with normal operations,” it added.
Coinlab’s website has been restored, but the company has since suspended trading of its products.
In the past, e, the currency of the internet, has faced similar problems.
In September 2016, ecoin-pay.com went offline after a hacker group targeted the site with malware.
At the time, the site said the hack was carried out by a group called “D-Squad”, who claimed responsibility for other attacks.
But the group was later revealed to have been the work of the cyber-security firm CrowdStrike, which published a report claiming the group had been responsible for a string of recent attacks on US financial institutions.
The firm said it was “actively investigating” the attack, which it claimed targeted the websites of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In November 2016, Coinlab said that it had suspended trading after hackers breached its servers, including the website.
In April 2017, the company announced that its trading services were being taken offline and the staff would be given severance packages.
“At Coinlab, we value our customers and take these risks seriously,” the statement said at the time.
The company added that it was continuing to work with the FBI on its investigation. “
The security of our customers is our top priority, and we are currently working closely with our team to determine what additional measures will be necessary to restore trading to the site.”
The company added that it was continuing to work with the FBI on its investigation.
CoinLab has previously said that its payment processor BitPay has stopped processing payments from the cyber threat group.
The payment processing service has previously received threats and was the subject of a hack in February.
In June, CoinLab said it would close the site entirely after a cyber attack, but said that the company was working with the US government on an investigation.