Zaif, a popular crypto exchange owned by Osaka-based Tech Bureau Corp reported today that there was a hack of its exchange a few days ago, which saw $60 million worth of digital coins stolen.
Word spread of 5966 Bitcoin (BTC) worth a total of $37 million USD stolen from Zaif, with further suspected withdrawals in Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and MonaCoin (MONA), which take the complete loss from the theft believed to be approximately $60 million. It is understood that around 2.2 billion yen or $19.6 million of stolen altcoins were the property of the Zaif exchange whilst the rest was money that belonged to clients.
In the immediate aftermath of the hack reveal, which came a full five days after the hack happened, MONA dropped $0.94 down to $0.86 very quickly. MONA staged a late recovery to $0.90, which meant a loss of 6.9% in the 254 hour period after the hack reveal. There was no effect upon BTC prices which increased to $6,414.47 in the same 24 hour period. Despite being one of the world’s leading crypto exchanges Zaif accounts for just 0.63% of all global BTC trades.
Japan’s Exchanges in the Hacking Spotlight
It is estimated that 12 percent of the world’s total Bitcoin trades are paired against the Japanese yen. Japan, the world’s third largest economy, hosts some of the world’s most active and popular crypto exchanges. It is also home to two of history’s biggest known cryptocurrency hacks. In 2014. Mt. Gox was hacked to the tune of $350 million whilst in January this year, nearly $500 million in digital coins was stolen in a hack of Coincheck Inc.
The operator of cryptocurrency exchange Zaif, Tech Bureau confirmed that the hack happened between 1700 and 1900 Japanese time on September 14th. Hackers breached the hot wallets containing Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Monacoin.
The latest hack compounds fears that the vulnerability and lack of security is deterring the average investor away from the cryptocurrency world.
