Japan firm says $32m missing in cryptocurrency hack

A Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange said Friday it had halted all services after losing cryptocurrency worth more than $32 million in the latest apparent hack involving virtual money. Remixpoint said its subsidiary BITPoint Japan discovered overnight that about 3.5 billion yen ($32.3 million) in various digital currencies had gone missing from its management.

The apparent hack was discovered after an error appeared in the firm’s outgoing funds transfer system on Thursday night. It said the cryptocurrency went missing from a socalled “hot wallet”, which is connected to the internet, but that currency held in “cold wallets” that are offline was not affected.

BITPoint Japan handles various virtual currencies, including bitcoin, ethereum and ripple. Remixpoint said the firm was still analysing the loss and offered no further details. It said it would compensate customers for the losses. Around 2.5 billion yen worth of the missing currency was customer funds, with the rest owned by the firm.

In 2018, Japan-based exchange Coincheck suspended deposits and withdrawals for virtual currencies after it was hacked, resulting in a loss worth half a billion dollars at the time.