Big Japanese Cryptocurrency Exchange Coincheck Got Hacked
Ever since the cryptocurrency market started to enjoy a spectacular growth, exchanges have become an even easier target for attackers. Several exchanges have been targeted by attackers, leading to some people losing important sums in cryptocurrencies.
Now, it appears that a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange was targeted by hackers. The cryptocurrency exchange, Coincheck, announced in a post on Twitter that the attack occurred. Because of the attack, the company was in the situation of having to halt client withdrawals. The decision to stop client withdrawals affects all cryptocurrencies, except for bitcoin.
It's unfortunate that coincheck got hacked. But we are doing everything we can to help. https://t.co/AH3lEDDG71
— Lon Wong (@2017Lon) January 26, 2018
However, at this point the company revealed nothing much. It just claimed that it will come with a more detailed announcement of the situation in the near future. The president of the NEM.io Foundation confirmed the fact that the hack occurred, mentioning that the hack only affected Coincheck and NEM was not impacted.
“As far as NEM is concerned, tech is intact. We are not forking. Also, we would advise all exchanges to make use of our multi-signature smart contract which is among the best in the landscape. Coincheck didn’t use them and that’s why they could have been hacked. They were very relaxed with their security measures.”
Around $400 million were stolen in the hack
It has been reported that a total of XEM 526 million were stolen, meaning around USD 400 million. Of course, the company apologized for what happened:
“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.”
The hack has drawn a lot of media attention because Coincheck is one of the biggest and best-known exchanges in the country.
