According to a report by Bloomberg based upon an anonymous source, hackers stole $21 million worth of Bitcoin and $15 millions worth Ethereum from retirement accounts with IRA Financial Trust on Feb. 8, according to a Report from .
Fast a week has passed since the FinTech startup that manages individual retirement accounts with non-traditional assets was subject to allegations of a major hack.
It tweeted late Friday that it had “discovered suspicious activities that have affected a small subset of customers with accounts on Gemini cryptocurrency exchange.” It now displays the same notice on its website.
However, the email purportedly sent out to affected users was shared via screenshot with decrypt. This is more than just “suspicious activity”.
The statement states that “Our investigation continues, but a preliminary evaluation indicates an attempted theft cryptocurrency funds from the impacted accounts.” We are actively utilizing all resources available to recover the funds.
As they wait for answers, affected users complain that their accounts have been locked out. IRA Financial Trust has yet to respond to a Decryptrequest.
Individual retirement accounts (IRAs) are tax-advantaged savings tools for U.S workers. They can deduct their contributions form their income. If you earn $60,000 and contribute $5,000 to an IRA you are only taxed once you withdraw the funds. However, IRAs do not allow you to invest in cryptocurrencies.
Self-directed IRAs like those offered by IRA Financial Trust do allow for this. There are also risks. There are risks. Self-directed IRAs cannot be administered by companies. The rules and fees for self-directed IRAs are not as simple as those on Vanguard.
IRA Financial’s value proposition makes it easier. Customers can use its app to make retirement investments, which is linked to Gemini. You can purchase it through Gemini and put it in your IRA. IRA Financial claims that “Our new cryptocurrency solution allows retirement holders to directly trade cryptocurrencies in their IRAs.”
Gemini Head for Communications Carolyn Vadino stated to Decrypt that Gemini’s systems were not compromised or hacked. We are aware of IRA Financial’s security incident and offer our assistance to IRA Financial during their investigation. Gemini handles the service of IRA Financial accounts, but Gemini is not responsible for the security of IRA Financial systems.
