‘Japanese cryptocurrency exchange loses 430 million euros in tokens due to hack’

A major Japanese exchange for cryptocurrencies, Coincheck, claims that it lost about 58 billion yen in so-called NEM tokens due to a hack. This means that the value of the stolen tokens is higher than with the hack on Mt. gox.

The Wall Street Journal, which attended the exchange’s press conference, reported that a total of 523 million NEM tokens were stolen. That would be the result of unauthorized access to the exchange’s system. The stolen tokens belong to users of the trading platform. Coincheck has shut down all trading on its platform to investigate the situation. No other currency, such as bitcoin, would have been stolen.

The Japanese exchange said its first priority is to help users get their stolen tokens back. However, the company added that it is unlikely it will be able to recover the tokens. It became clear that something was up when Coincheck noticed large amounts of money being withdrawn. It would not say from which country or countries access was to its platform, the newspaper said.

The NEM blockchain is being developed by a foundation of the same name in Singapore. The blockchain uses tokens referred to as XEM. Coinmarketcap shows a recent price drop for this, so that the value is currently 68 euro cents. Coincheck said it was not using a multisig system that requires multiple signatures for transactions, according to the paper.