Zaif is the 35th largest cryptocurrency exchange by turnover.
Hackers have stolen a whopping $60 million (6.7 billion yen) worth of cryptocurrency from Zaif, the 35th largest cryptocurrency exchange dealing in Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and Monacoin. The exchange is owned by Tech Bureau, Corp. based in Nishi-Ku, Osaka, Japan.
The hack attack took place on September 14th after hackers gained access to exchange’s “hot wallets” and transferred stolen funds to their own wallets. What’s worse is that Tech Bureau wasn’t aware of the breach until Monday, September 17th allowing hackers to cover their tracks without flipping off.
One of the tweets from Zaif exchange suggests that the exchange discovered the hack during an investigation related to server failure and urged users not to deposit or withdraw funds from their wallets.
【仮想通貨入出金障害の続報】
現在BTC,MONA,BCHの入出金を一時停止しております。引き続き障害対応中ですが、お客様の資産の安全を確認いたしましたことをご報告いたします。復旧については1～２営業日中に完了する予定です。ご迷惑をおかけしておりますことをお詫び申し上げます。— Zaif (@zaifdotjp) September 18, 2018
Although the hack has been reported to the police, all transactions, withdrawals, and deposits have been suspended. According to documents seen by Reuters, “Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) would conduct emergency checks on cryptocurrency exchange operators’ management of customer assets, following the theft.”
Earlier this year, regulators hit Tech Bureau with two business improvement orders which means the latest hack may come as a massive blow to the company.
It is unclear how hackers managed to bypass the security implemented by the exchange however, this is not the first time when one of the largest cryptocurrency exchange in Japan has suffered such a massive data breach. In Junaray this year, one of Japan’s and Asia’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck was hacked and as a result, hackers stole 58 billion Yen of the virtual currency “NEM (Nemu)” ($534 million – €429 million).
In 2014, Tokyo-based Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange suffered a cyber attack in which 850,000 Bitcoins were stolen. The company managed around 80% of the world’s Bitcoin trades but ended up filing for bankruptcy.
