Japan-based cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin has said it lost 4,502.9 Bitcoin amid a wrecked fiscal year for the firm, which makes it equal to 48.2 billion yen or approximately 308 million dollars, which is 2 billion yen. The company said the leakage was an ‘unauthorized’ action, but the details about how it was carried out or confirmed an outsider’s involvement are still sketchy. There are cases where an investigation is ongoing and services have been limited because of this.
This year has also seen hacking attempts and cyber attacks targeting cryptocurrency companies but this is one of the biggest losses reported. In regard to the situation, DMM Bitcoin proposes to reimburse victims for lost Bitcoin deposits with the help of money from other affiliated companies.
The Financial Services Agency of Japan has directed DMM Bitcoin to cautiously investigate the occasion, NHK or the Japan public broadcasting company reported.
Tom Robinson, the chief scientist and co-founder of the crypto age research firm Elliptic, expressed that if this event is proven, the ransomware attack will be the eighth biggest cryptocurrency theft in history if measured in bitcoin value at the time. This loss marks the largest since break-in on FTX in November 2022 which saw the trading firm lose $477 million.
Another news outlet that mainly covers the cryptocurrency space, CoinDesk, said that this was the second largest crypto theft in Japan and was even smaller than the $530 million stolen from the Japanese exchange Coincheck in 2018.
Last year alone, there were incidents of theft at different cryptocurrency platforms that amount to $1.7 billion according to the San Francisco-based crypto research firm Chainalysis.
FOOTNOTES: * Conversion rates: $1 = 156. 64 yen.
