Cryptopia Discloses Vague Estimate of Stolen Crypto

Wednesday, 27/02/2019 | 12:47 GMT by Arnab Shome
  • The exchange is aiming to reopen the trading platform on Monday.
Cryptopia Discloses Vague Estimate of Stolen Crypto
Finance Magnates

New Zealand-based crypto exchange Cryptopia on Wednesday disclosed official estimates of the loss it endured in 2019’s first crypto exchange hack.

In a series of Tweets on February 27, Cryptopia revealed that in the “worst case” scenario, the exchange lost 9.4 percent of its total holdings.

The exchange, however, did not reveal the exact figure for the loss.

First Crypto Exchange Attack of This Year

The cyber attack on Cryptopia was the first such crypto exchange-related incident in 2019. The report surfaced on January 15 as the exchange announced that a “significant” amount of Cryptocurrencies were stolen from the exchange and assuring that the New Zealand police is investigating the matter.

The lack of any official figure put Blockchain analytics firms to work with one such company estimating that the exchange has lost $16 million worth of ETH and other ERC-20 tokens. Elementus also claimed that the hackers were dumping the stolen digital tokens on various major exchanges including Bitbox, Binance, Huobi, and HitBTC and looking to cash out.

A few days later, the same analytics firm again claimed that the attackers continued to siphon funds from the exchange while the case was under investigation. This time the loss was estimated at around $175,000, and the report also claimed that 17,000 wallets of the exchange's users were affected.

In the recently posted update, the exchange has assured that it is “securing each wallet individually” to ensure the security of the platform.

Permission to Resume Operation

After a month-long investigation by the New Zealand police, the control of the exchange’s offices and operating premises were handed over to Cryptopia on mid-February and the police department also gave the go-ahead to resume its day-to-day operations.

The exchange, however, did not resume the trading services on the platform and its long silence on the matter had only escalated further concerns in the community.

Today, the crypto exchange also asked users not to transfer any funds to the old wallets as the exchange is issuing new wallets.

On February 28, the crypto exchange tweeted that it is planning to reopen its trading services on March 4.

New Zealand-based crypto exchange Cryptopia on Wednesday disclosed official estimates of the loss it endured in 2019’s first crypto exchange hack.

In a series of Tweets on February 27, Cryptopia revealed that in the “worst case” scenario, the exchange lost 9.4 percent of its total holdings.

The exchange, however, did not reveal the exact figure for the loss.

First Crypto Exchange Attack of This Year

The cyber attack on Cryptopia was the first such crypto exchange-related incident in 2019. The report surfaced on January 15 as the exchange announced that a “significant” amount of Cryptocurrencies were stolen from the exchange and assuring that the New Zealand police is investigating the matter.

The lack of any official figure put Blockchain analytics firms to work with one such company estimating that the exchange has lost $16 million worth of ETH and other ERC-20 tokens. Elementus also claimed that the hackers were dumping the stolen digital tokens on various major exchanges including Bitbox, Binance, Huobi, and HitBTC and looking to cash out.

A few days later, the same analytics firm again claimed that the attackers continued to siphon funds from the exchange while the case was under investigation. This time the loss was estimated at around $175,000, and the report also claimed that 17,000 wallets of the exchange's users were affected.

In the recently posted update, the exchange has assured that it is “securing each wallet individually” to ensure the security of the platform.

Permission to Resume Operation

After a month-long investigation by the New Zealand police, the control of the exchange’s offices and operating premises were handed over to Cryptopia on mid-February and the police department also gave the go-ahead to resume its day-to-day operations.

The exchange, however, did not resume the trading services on the platform and its long silence on the matter had only escalated further concerns in the community.

Today, the crypto exchange also asked users not to transfer any funds to the old wallets as the exchange is issuing new wallets.

On February 28, the crypto exchange tweeted that it is planning to reopen its trading services on March 4.

About the Author: Arnab Shome
Arnab Shome
  • 6570 Articles
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About the Author: Arnab Shome
Arnab is an electronics engineer-turned-financial editor. He entered the industry covering the cryptocurrency market for Finance Magnates and later expanded his reach to forex as well. He is passionate about the changing regulatory landscape on financial markets and keenly follows the disruptions in the industry with new-age technologies.
  • 6570 Articles
  • 91 Followers

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