Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin confirmed on Friday that it lost more than $300 million in Bitcoin (BTC) in an “unauthorized leak.” The exchange said it would reimburse users in full for losses resulting from the hack.
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In a blog post, DMM Bitcoin said 4,502.9 BTC “leaked” from its wallets. The BTC is valued at about 48 billion yen ($305 million). Crypto analytics firm Elliptic said the theft is the eighth-largest crypto exploit in history and the largest since the $477 million hack of FTX in November 2022.
DMM Bitcoin Acts to Prevent Further Losses
The crypto exchange said it is investigating the theft and has taken action to prevent further loss of Bitcoin from its wallets. Some services are now restricted, including all spot buys and new account openings. Yen-based withdrawals “may take more time than usual,” it added.
The measures are meant to “ensure additional safety.” DMM Bitcoin promised to repay customers the “full amount” of BTC lost from the breach. In its official blog post, issued in Japanese, the exchange said:
“Please be assured that we will procure the equivalent amount of BTC equivalent to the outflow with the support of the group companies and guarantee the full amount.”
According to data from Elliptic, the hacker split the Bitcoin loot across 10 different wallets in batches of $34.3 million in BTC each. The tenth wallet, however, received just under $200,000.
Crypto Industry Dogged by Exploits
The crypto industry appears to be turning into a hacker’s paradise. In 2023, hackers stole the equivalent of $2 billion in cryptocurrency across different platforms, according to De.Fi, a company that tracks crypto hacks and scams. The total amount is the lowest since 2020, De.Fi claimed.
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More than $473 million worth of crypto has been stolen across 108 incidents so far this year, excluding the DMM Bitcoin heist, which is the second largest in Japan. In 2018, the Coincheck crypto exchange lost about 58 billion yen.
Cryptopolitan Reporting by Jeffrey Gogo