DMM Bitcoin lays out fundraising plan to repay theft victims

Cause of $300 million-plus “unauthorized leak” still unknown as company gets set for big fundraise

June 5, 2024 10:32 am

Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

A Japanese crypto exchange plans to pay back victims of a recent unauthorized leak in the coming days via raising capital.

DMM Bitcoin reiterated in a translated post that it would make available the entire amount of customer-held bitcoin lost in the leak “with support from our group companies.”

The company took out a loan worth $32 million, or five billion yen, on Monday.

DMM Bitcoin noted it planned to raise $310 million (48 billion yen) on June 7. It then seeks to secure an additional roughly $13 million (two billion yen) in subordinated debt on June 10.

The update comes about a week after DMM Bitcoin revealed 4,502.9 BTC — worth $305.1 million at the time — was stolen. After the theft took place on May 31 at 12:26 am ET (1:26 pm JST), the company stopped processing crypto withdrawals, spot market purchase orders and new leveraged trading positions.

DMM Bitcoin quickly said customer bitcoin deposits would be fully guaranteed — a promise the company has now repeated in its latest post.

The crypto exchange intends to release a report with more details about the leak when it has them.

“We will continue to procure [b]itcoin equivalent to the amount leaked, taking care not to impact the market,” the company wrote. “We are currently continuing to conduct an investigation to determine the cause of the unauthorized leak.”

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