Japanese crypto exchange reports bitcoin theft worth $305M

DMM Bitcoin said customer bitcoin deposits “will be fully guaranteed” in the wake of the hack

article-image

Artwork by Crystal Le

share

A Japanese crypto exchange operator said Friday that it suffered an “unauthorized leak” of more than $300 million worth of bitcoin.

The details were shared in a blog post published by DMM Bitcoin. The total amount said to be stolen was 4,502.9 BTC, worth $305.1 million at current market prices.

The exchange said that customer bitcoin deposits “will be fully guaranteed as we will procure the equivalent amount of BTC that was leaked with support from our group companies.” DMM Bitcoin offered no timeline on when these procurements would take place.

DMM Bitcoin said the theft occurred at 1:26 p.m. Tokyo time. That time roughly aligns with the timing of a transaction worth 4,502 BTC flagged by the Whale Alert account on X, formerly Twitter. 

DMM Bitcoin said that it has stopped processing crypto withdrawals and spot market purchase orders, as well as new leveraged trading positions. The exchange is also “screening” new account openings.

Withdrawals denominated in yen, the exchange said, “may take longer than usual,” per the blog post.

The exchange didn’t say when services would resume, but that a separate announcement would be published with more information. 

According to a report from Japanese news service Nikkei, DMM Bitcoin had approximately 370,000 customer accounts at the end of 2023, citing an annual business report. 

If confirmed, the amount stolen represents one of the largest-ever crypto exchange attacks.

In 2018, Coincheck suffered a theft worth 58 billion yen, or about $533 million worth of crypto. The exchange was acquired by online brokerage firm Monax later that year.

Japan was home to arguably the most infamous of bitcoin exchange collapses, Mt Gox, with losses valued at more than $400 million in 2014 prices. The failure of Mt Gox kicked off a decade-long process that appears nearing completion, with preparations underway to finally distribute funds to creditors.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the On the Margin newsletter.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Salt Lake City, UT

MON - TUES, OCT. 7 - 8, 2024

Blockworks and Bankless in collaboration with buidlbox are excited to announce the second installment of the Permissionless Hackathon – taking place October 7-8 in Salt Lake City, Utah. We’ve partnered with buidlbox to bring together the brightest minds in crypto for […]

Salt Lake City, UT

WED - FRI, OCTOBER 9 - 11, 2024

Permissionless is a conference for founders, application developers, and users. Come meet the next generation of people building and using crypto.

recent research

Research Report Templates (1).png

Research

Solana Mobile is a highly ambitious foray into the mobile consumer hardware market, seeking to open up a crypto-native distribution channel for mobile-first applications. The market for Solana Mobile devices has demonstrated a phenomenon whereby external market actors (e.g. Solana-native projects) continuously underwrite subsidies to Mobile consumers. The value of these subsidies, coming in the form of airdrops, trial programs, and exclusive NFT mints, have consistently covered the cost of the phone and generated positive returns for consumers. Given this trend in subsidies, the unit economics in the market for Mobile devices, and the initial growth rate and trajectory of sales, it should be expected that Solana mobile can clear 1M to 10M units over the coming years. As more devices circulate amongst users, Solana Mobile presents a promising venue for the emergence of killer-applications uniquely enabled by this mobile-first, crypto-native distribution channel.

article-image

Plus, a look into Lighting Labs’ newest feature

article-image

Crypto’s Wild West era is over — it’s time to embrace regulation to secure the future of digital assets

article-image

Plus, Solana has now surpassed Ethereum in trailing 30-day decentralized exchange volume

article-image

Polymarket betters say Kamala Harris has better odds than Biden of winning against Trump

article-image

Bitcoin’s down Tuesday, while ETH-correlated assets like ENS and ARB see growth