Coincheck to Start Compensating Victims from Next Week

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck announced that it will begin the compensation process to the victims of the theft of $530 million worth of NEM tokens from next week.

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Coincheck CEO Koichiro Wada and COO Yusuke Otsuka made the announcement today in a press statement in Tokyo. Though details are still scarce, both executives said that they will come up with more details in the coming days.

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Bloomberg’s Tokyo-based tech reporter Yuji Nakamura provided updates on the event on Twitter.

Coincheck press conf so far:
– Plan to compensate users of stolen NEM next week‼️
– Hope to restart trading of some currencies next week
– Hackers got in via malware on employee's computer
– Still hoping FSA will give them license

— Yuji Nakamura (@ynakamura56) March 8, 2018

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On the 26th of January, the exchange confirmed the news of the massive theft of NEM tokens, which affected 260,000 users. Coincheck was quick to suspend all withdrawals amid the theft, and a couple of days later, it announced that it will compensate all the victims at the rate of 81 cents to every dollar.

Though Mr. Wada clarified that the exchange will compensate the victims with the money the exchange is making from spread trading, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) later audited its books to see if the claims made by the exchange were legit.

However, after resuming yen withdrawals in February, the exchange was flooded with withdrawal requests, as customers withdrew 40.1 billion yen ($372 million) in a single day and around 60 billion yen ($566 million) since the incident.

The biggest cryptocurrency heist in Japanese history also brought the country’s regulator – the FSA – into the spotlight. Since then, the watchdog has tightened the leash on the exchanges with onsite inspections.

Today, prior to Coinchek’s announcement, the FSA penalized six Japanese cryptocurrency exchanges and also ordered Coinscheck to make further improvements by revising its management structure, improving anti-money laundering procedures and to submit a report by March 22. Mr. Otsuka said that Coincheck will comply with the orders of the regulatory body.

Moreover, the exchange is facing lawsuits filed by several groups of the victims demanding to expedite the reimbursement of their losses.