Hackers steal $60 million in cryptocurrency from Japanese exchange

Representations
of the Ripple, Bitcoin, Etherum and Litecoin virtual currencies
are seen on motherboard in this illustration
picture
Thomson
Reuters

• 6.7 billion yen ($60 million) in cryptocurrency has been
  stolen by hackers from a Japanese digital exchange called Zaif.
• Tech Bureau Corp, the Osaka based company that owns the
  exchange, said hackers gained access for a timeframe of over two
  hours on September 14 and stole money from Zaif’s ‘hot wallet’
  where Bitcoin and other digital currencies are stored,
  Reuters reported.
• Server problems were detected on September 17, with the
  company sounding the alarm to authorities the following day. The
  exchange was taken offline, and efforts have been underway to get
  it working again.

Hackers have stolen 6.7 billion yen ($60 million) in Bitcoin and
two other cryptocurrencies from the Japanese digital exchange,
Zaif, owned by startup Tech Bureau Corp, the company said on
Thursday.

In a statement following the hack, Tech Bureau said that its Zaif
exchange was hacked in a window of over two hours on September
14. They detected server problems on September 17, confirmed the
hack and sounded the alarm to authorities the following
day, Reuters
reported.

Tech Bureau Corp said the perpetrators gained access to its ‘hot
wallet’ where the digital coins are stored. The platform has been
taken offline, but it said efforts were underway to get it
working again.

Japan has been a leader in cryptocurrencies and has set up a
system of licensing digital exchanges with the government to
regulate the market and protect consumers. The system is designed
to make Japan a world leader in the financial technology.

Bitcoin has been legal tender in Japan since April 2017, and some
retailers in the country already accept the digital payments,

The Washington Post reported. But Thursday’s hack and others
before it show the technology is still having teething problems.

The digital exchange, Coincheck, which is based in Tokyo,
reported that 58 billion yen ($547 million) in cryptocurrencies
disappeared earlier in the year, in what was suspected to be
another theft by hackers.

Coincheck had been applying for a government licence since 2012,
but still didn’t have at the time it was hacked, sparking debate
in the industry. Zaif was registered by the government last year.

On Thursday, after the hack, the company said it had accepted a 5
billion yen ($45 million) offer of investment from Tokyo based
company Fisco, for a majority stake in Tech Bureau.

Bitcoin and Manacoin were among the cryptocurrencies taken in the
September 14 breach. 2.2 billion yen ($20 million) of the stolen
currency belonged to the company and the rest were owned by
customers, Tech Corp said.

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