A crypto exchange, wallet and crypto tracker are tools that all crypto investors use. However, recently it seems like more issues are occurring in the crypto sphere.
Bitpoint, a Japan-based crypto exchange, that experienced a cyber attack not long
ago, lost over two million dollars again.
Bitpoint was founded in March 2016 with an initial investment capital of forty one million dollars. The platform enables trading in countries like Japan, Malaysia, Korea as well as Taiwan and it’s also licensed by the Financial Service Agency. Bitpoint is a subsidiary of Remixpoint, a system sales and development company.
There were five crypto coins traded on Bitpoint: Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP) and Litecoin (LTC).
Earlier this month a cyber attack on the platform was detected and the exchange lost thirty million dollars in crypto coins. The next day, the platform suspended trading and released an apology to the users.
As Bitpoint stated that the hot wallet where the funds were taken away from, had 5 currencies. Yet, it is still not known whether or not crypto coins from the exchange’s cold wallet were stolen. The exchange also added that while over nine million dollars belonged to the exchange, the rest were the cryptocurrencies of users.
Reportedly, stolen crypto coins were found on an exchange in another country that utilized Bitpoint’s trading system. The exchange also disclosed that there were still twenty eight million dollars missing.
The local media outlets report that Bitpoint, among with other crypto exchanges, received a request from the Japanese government to improve their company. The major issues regarding companies involved with cryptocurrency were money-laundering and lack of customer information.
However, Bitpoint wasn’t the first crypto exchange to suffer such loses. In September 2018, Zaif experienced a cyber attack that stole sixty million dollars in crypto coins. Notably, it was also licensed by the Financial Service Agency.
The exchange was established in April 2016. After the hack, Zaif got new management and started operating.
Another platform, Coincheck, was attacked the same year and NEM coins worth over five hundred twenty dollars were stolen. The reason was the deficient safety of the exchange’s hot wallet. The hack turned into one of the largest cyber attack thefts throughout history. The exchange held a press conference after the incident stating that they’d repay the losses.
Coin check was established in 2014 in Tokyo by Koichiro Wada and Yusuke Otsuka. The exchange traded Bitcoin, Ethereum and fiat.
All in all, the total loss was around four hundred twenty million dollars. According to many people, this hack was among the reasons why the Japanese government decided to regulate crypto exchanges strictly.
There were many other crypto trading platforms outside Japan like Mt. Gox, Finance, Bitfinex and more that experienced similar attacks. Other crypto platforms shut down, disappearing and taking the funds of crypto investors with them.
Despite all these hacks, crypto trading has been at peak and if you want to enter the crypto trading sphere being successful in it, check out this crypto portfolio tracker guide.
