DMM Bitcoin, a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, experienced a significant loss of 4,502.9 Bitcoin due to a hack. This amounts to approximately 48.2 billion yen ($305 million USD) of customer funds. The exchange confirmed the incident in a public statement, describing it as an “unauthorized leak of Bitcoin (BTC) from our wallet.”
In response to the hack, DMM Bitcoin has implemented several restrictions to ensure the safety of its services. These measures include the suspension of new account screenings, freezing crypto withdrawals, and limiting spot traders to only sell crypto, not buy. Additionally, leverage traders are no longer able to open positions.
The exchange reassured its customers that their Bitcoin deposits would be fully guaranteed. DMM Bitcoin intends to procure the equivalent amount of leaked BTC with the support of its partner companies.
This incident marks one of the largest exchange hacks in terms of fiat value. To put it into perspective, the infamous Mt. Gox hack in 2014 amounted to $450 million. The largest hack in Japan was the CoinCheck incident in 2018, which resulted in a loss of 58 billion yen ($532 million).
In the past, customers affected by exchange hacks have often faced challenges in recovering their funds. Some have not received their full money back, while others have only received a fraction of their coins. However, there have been recent success stories, such as Gemini Earn, which fully reimbursed its customers in kind for their frozen crypto withdrawals after 18 months.
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