Heaptalk, Jakarta — Japan’s crypto exchange, DMM Bitcoin, declared that the company had lost about 4,502 Bitcoin (BTC), equal to US$306 million, after being illegally leaked from its wallet on Friday. (05/31)
The company has not revealed detailed details about how the hack occurred. The internal team is still conducting further investigations and taking further action to prevent future attacks. Nevertheless, DMM Bitcoin exchange admitted that the team frequently controls customer assets day after day and operates a cold wallet to ensure that up to 95% of its customer assets are stored in the cold wallet.
“We apologize sincerely for the great inconvenience and concern caused to customers. We are still investigating the loss in detail and have taken steps to prevent unauthorized leaks by implementing restrictions on some services to ensure additional security. With support from the Group, we will obtain an amount of BTC equivalent to the outflow and guarantee full reimbursement. “DMM Bitcoin said on its official website.
The Japanese crypto exchange temporarily halted purchasing orders for spot trading, opened leveraged trading positions, and screened new account openings. As a more comprehensive measure of protection, DMM Bitcoin is also momentarily suspending crypto withdrawals. Although withdrawals in Japanese Yen can still be processed, investors will face a slower withdrawal process than usual.
Although DMM Bitcoin has not yet provided details about this “illegal leak,” a crypto research company, Chainanalysis, called this case one of the most substantial hacks in the industry since December 2022 and the seventh-largest crypto hack ever. Japan’s financial services agency is known to have ordered the exchange to investigate the incident and protect customers from harm, while police have also begun investigating the case.
At the same time, the crypto news outlet CoinDesk claimed that DMM’s loss was the second largest the region had faced after the Japanese crypto exchange Coincheck was also stolen, around US$530 million in 2018.
