Bitcoin glitch wipes out Silk Road 2.0, is the end near?

The underground Silk Road 2.0 website was reportedly hacked and those responsible ran off with an estimated $2.6 million for their efforts.

"I am sweating as I write this... I must utter words all too familiar to this scared community: We have been hacked," Silk Road 2.0 administrators posted on a forum. "Our initial investigations indicate that a vendor exploited a recently discovered vulnerability in the bitcoin protocol known as 'transaction malleability' to repeatedly withdraw coins from our system until it was completely empty."

Although Defcon, the admin who posted a message on the Silk Road 2.0 forums didn't post an exact figure taken, security experts believe 4,400 coins - the equivalent of close to $2.6 million - was taken.

The original Silk Road successfully operated in the shadows before drawing federal attention, though Silk Road 2.0 never had the same luxury. However, the bitcoin exploit also recently ravaged several bitcoin exchanges, showing the digital currency has significant security issues.