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Another day, another cryptocurrency exchange under cyber attack – This time Coincheck, Japanese cryptocurrency exchange has been hacked and lost $534 million in NEM tokens.
One of Japan’s and Asia’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck has suffered a data breach in which unknown hackers have stolen 58 billion Yen of the virtual currency “NEM (Nemu)” ($534 million – €429 million) from its digital wallets
According to local media, the Tokyo based exchange has confirmed that it has suffered what appears to be the biggest hack in the history of cryptocurrency business. In a press conference held earlier today, Coincheck’s president Koichi Wada apologized to the customers and said that the law enforcement authorities are already investigating the incident.
“Currently, credit card, Pay Easy, and convenience store payments are suspended. We sincerely apologize for these inconveniences and will continue to do our best to be back to normal operations as soon as possible,” said Coincheck’s blog post.
Initially, Coincheck suspended the trade for NEM tokens without stating any reason or providing additional information. However, on Friday evening, the company conducted a press conference and announced that it has suspended the trade for almost every cryptocurrency after the incident.
According to the president of blockchain company NEM.io Lon Wong “This is the biggest theft in the history of the world.” “It’s unfortunate that CoinCheck got hacked. But we are doing everything we can to help,” Wong said.
This is not the first time when a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange is in news for all the wrong reasons. In 2014, Tokyo-based Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange suffered a cyber attack in which 850,000 Bitcoins were stolen. The company managed around 80% of the world’s Bitcoin trades but ended up filing for bankruptcy.
It is unclear what will be the exact impact of Coincheck breach or how much it will affect the value of other cryptocurrencies. It is advised that investors should make sure their wallets are safe from cyber attacks since there has been a 100% increase in attacks against cryptocurrency wallets and exchanges.
At the time of publishing this article, Coincheck’s website was online but its operations were suspended.
9th Breach Against A Cryptocurrency Platform In Last 6 Months
This is the 9th major successful security breach against a cryptocurrency platform. Here is a look at seven previous data breaches against cryptocurrency exchanges:
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