Accessibility links

Breaking News

Tokyo-based Cryptocurrency Exchange Hacked, $530 Million Lost

update

FILE - A man checks the graph showing recent fluctuations on Bitcoin exchange rates against the U.S. dollar on his laptop during a media opportunity at the Tokyo Bitcoin weekly meeting at a restaurant in Tokyo.
FILE - A man checks the graph showing recent fluctuations on Bitcoin exchange rates against the U.S. dollar on his laptop during a media opportunity at the Tokyo Bitcoin weekly meeting at a restaurant in Tokyo.

Coincheck, a major cryptocurrency trading exchange in Tokyo, has been hacked into and has lost about $534 million worth of virtual money, national broadcaster NHK reported on Friday.

Coincheck posted on its website on Friday afternoon that it had suspended withdrawals of almost all cryptocurrencies.

The exchange has already reported the incident to the police and to Japan's Financial Services Agency, NHK said.

In 2014, Tokyo-based Mt. Gox, which once handled 80 percent of the world's bitcoin trades, filed for bankruptcy after losing some 850,000 bitcoins — then worth around half a billion U.S. dollars — and $28 million in cash from its bank accounts.

  • 16x9 Image

    Reuters

    Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

XS
SM
MD
LG