to the reports, on September 14, the exchange first observed an unusual outflow of funds on the platform around 17:00 Japan time. As a result, the company suspended asset deposit and withdrawal services. Tech Bureau further explained that in-depth investigations revealed that hackers gained unauthorized access to the exchange’s hot wallets and has roughly taken away $60 million in bitcoin, bitcoin cash, and MonaCoin. Though the exact amount of bitcoin cash stolen remains unknown.
Given the nature of the unauthorized fund access, Tech Bureau has filed the incident as a criminal case to local authorities for further investigation. It was further disclosed that the exchange’s current asset reserve is around 2.2 billion yen (or $20 million) and the hack has pushed them to partner with Fisco, a Japan-listed firm, to receive a $44.5 million investment in exchange for a major share of ownership.
Zaif is the second Japanese company to face an hack this year. In January, Coincheck reported a hacker attack and a subsequent loss of a whopping $520 million in NEM tokens. The Coincheck’s hack was followed by a series of inspections on cryptocurrency exchanges in the country regarding their security measures, launched by Japan’s financial watchdog, Financial Services Agency (FSA).
Notably, the FSA issued a business improvement order to Tech Bureau in March, which suggested them to enhance their security and anti-money laundering services.
Read more: Japan’s Financial Regulator Reveals The Updated List of Crypto Regulations
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