BitGrail Re-launch Shut Down Within 3 Hours By Italian Authorities

Controversial Italian cryptocurrency exchange has been shut down a mere three hours after re-launching operations due to a court order.

The suspension followed a brief re-opening on Tuesday, shortly after which Italian authorities demanded that the platform cease operations immediately.

BitGrail received the order shortly after markets were reopened on the platform.

"This morning, following the re-opening, we were notified of a deed by the court of Florence requesting the immediate closure of BitGrail and this situation will persist until a decision is made by the courts, about the precautionary suspension request made by the Bonelli law office on behalf of a client."

BitGrail has remained a highly controversial topic within the cryptocurrency community since a hack of the platform in February saw the loss of over 17 million Nano, with a cumulative value of over $170 million.

Subsequent to the hack, BitGrail announced that the loss was caused by "Unauthorized transactions," but did not provide specifics on how the hack occurred.

Legal Battle Heats Up. The precautionary suspension request that resulted in the court order appears to have originated from Italian law firm BonneliErede, who last week filed a petition with the Italian court system asking for the courts to declare BitGrail bankrupt.

"The opening of the BitGrail platform involves the concrete danger of depletion of the assets and possible dispersion of the means of proof for the ascertainment of the causes loss of Nano, so that the exists that justifies the immediate adoption of the requested measure to stem this danger".

The court order also appoints lawyer Tommaso Ariani as the curator and custodian of the Bitgrail platform, supported by Swiss computer forensics specialist Dr. Paolo Dal Checco as a technical assistant.

With the appointment of a forensic specialist, it's possible that the court-ordered investigation of the BitGrail hack could shed some light on the cause of the hack.