World leaders meeting in Davos last week issued fresh warnings about the dangers of cryptocurrencies, with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin relating Washington's concern about the money being used for illicit activity. The theft underscores security and regulatory concerns about bitcoin and other virtual currencies even as a global boom in them shows little signs of fizzling. The financial watchdog is also considering administrative punishment for Coincheck under the financial settlements law, one of the sources said. Reuters reported two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) sent a notice to the country's roughly 30 firms that operate virtual currency exchanges to warn of further possible cyber-attacks, urging them to step up security. Further cyber-attacks possible regulators say I am very sorry," he said.Ĭhief operating officer Yusuke Otsuka said stolen funds were kept in a "hot wallet" - one connected to the internet instead of being secured offline, according to Forbes.Īsked why, company President Koichiro Wada cited technical difficulties and a shortage of staff capable of dealing with them. I deeply apologise for your inconvenience because of this incident. "Some parts of our service were suspended today. The reported loss tops the 48 billion yen the Japan-based Mt Gox Bitcoin exchange lost in 2014.Ĭoincheck president Koichiro Wada apologised at a news conference and said the company may seek financial assistance. The initial theft was reportedly as one of the world's biggest-ever digital cryptocurrency thefts.
On Sunday, the exchange announced it would return about 46.3 billion yen ($523 million) to investors, but was still working on the timing and method. On Friday Coincheck exchange said on its website it had halted sales and withdrawals of a cryptocurrency called NEM after hackers stole a reported 58 billion yen ($660 million).
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