When it comes to cyber-attacks on cryptocurrency service providers such as crypto exchanges, trading platforms, wallet service providers, etc. Japan has been quite prolific. Recently, another Japanese crypto exchange, Bitpoint, stopped its trading services due to a major cryptocurrency hack resulting in a loss of about 3.5 billion Japanese Yen ($32 million) worth of cryptocurrency, which includes popular cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ripple (XRP), etc.
On July 11th, Bloomberg reported that the Japanese crypto exchange and trading service provider Bitpoint ceased all operations after losing $32 million worth of digital assets that were stolen in the hack. As reported by Bloomberg, out of 3.5 billion Yen, 2.5 billion yen belonged to customers while the rest belonged to the crypto exchange.
It is not the first time that such a huge worth of cryptocurrencies was stolen from Japanese crypto exchanges. BitPoint’s case came more than a year after of the Coincheck hack. Coincheck, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in Japan, has reportedly lost $400 million in a hacking attack. The country’s financial authorities ordered the crypto exchanges to take extreme security measurements to bolster their security controls and internal processes.
Coming back to BitPoint, the exchange is owned by Remixpoint Inc., a Japanese conglomerate which currently operates in the energy, financial, travel and automobile sectors. The stock price of the company fell by 19% to their daily lower limit and was remain untraded in Tokyo as of 1:44 p.m. as no deliverables were accepted by traders.
The Cryptocurrencies Were Stolen from the Cold Wallet
Bloomberg further reported that the crypto funds were mainly stolen from BitPoint’s hot wallet which means the only wallets which were online during the hacking attack. The targeted hot wallet had Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and other popular cryptocurrencies. It was reported that none of the cold wallets were breached and there are no missing funds in them.
Bitpoint has responded by ceasing all services that include trading, withdrawals, and deposits. Customers of Bitpoint have also received emails, notifying that the company would suspend all the services while investigating the matter.
After the hack, Bitpoint finally registered its name in the list of cryptocurrency operators as it has been ordered by Japan’s Financial Services Agency to improve internal controls and take extreme security measurements in order to prevent further hacking attacks and illicit activities.
Japan’s Financial Services Agency is quire concerned about the issue and it has demanded more security measures. In some cases, the Japanese regulator can even suspend the services and cancel the service provider’s license as well.
