#COINCHECK HACK TIMELINE SERIES#

Since Coincheck started shutting down its operations early on Friday morning, 101 million XRP worth $123 million were moved followed by rumors of $600 million in NEM following suit. As a percentage of total supply – as well as in dollar terms – that would make the hack larger than that which befell Mt Gox in 2014, though the repercussions of today’s events will be more localized. If it transpires that the NEM withdrawal was unauthorized, it would mean that around 5% of the total supply has been stolen. Japan’s Flagship Exchange Is on LockdownĬoincheck later updated its blog post multiple times to announce firstly that it had halted the purchase and sale of NEM, then withdrawals of NEM, then all cryptocurrency purchases, and finally all payments by credit card and other fiat currencies. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this has caused everyone.” Glum Coincheck management face the press today. Deposits made to your account will not be reflected in your balance, and we advise all users to refrain from making deposits until the restriction has been lifted. In a blogpost today, Coincheck wrote: “Depositing NEM on Coincheck is currently being restricted. He later added that he didn’t think NEM should hard fork to freeze the stolen funds. It has yet to be confirmed that the exchange has been hacked, despite a tweet from NEM’s president affirming as much. The ripple receiving address already held a large XRP balance, and so the withdrawal may have been Ripple protecting its assets. Shortly afterwards, the Japanese exchange announced that it had halted all withdrawals. The first signs that something was amiss emerged after $123 million of ripple was withdrawn as well as a transaction of 500 million NEM ( XEM) worth around $600 million at the time. UPDATE: New information regarding this story can be found in the conclusion.Īlso read: Russia Finalizes Federal Law on Cryptocurrency Regulation Media Gather at Coincheck HQ Media start to assemble outside Coincheck’s offices.Īs media gather outside Coincheck’s Tokyo HQ, onlookers are trying to work out what’s happened to the exchange. But we are doing everything we can to help.” Upon news of the alleged hack surfacing, the price of NEM dipped sharply, leaving it down 19% in the past 24 hours. Ripple worth $123 million was withdrawn from its wallet on Friday January 26 along with a single withdrawal of 500 million NEM, with the altcoin’s foundation president Lon Wong then tweeting “It’s unfortunate that coincheck got hacked. Here’s a look at how tickers fluctuated during during this time.One of Japan’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges has halted all withdrawals amidst rumors of a large-scale hack.

This trend rang true for every token other than XEM, which dropped about 10 percent in price without any sign of recovery.

Eastern Friday, indicated by a black arrow below, when Coincheck held a press conference regarding the hack. This was followed by a rebound in prices at 9:30 a.m.

#COINCHECK HACK TIMELINE SERIES#

Eastern Thursday night, indicated by a red arrow below, when the exchange began a series of announcements that it was restricting NEM and other transactions. But how did it and other top cryptocurrencies respond both to the original news that CoinCheck was suspending trades of all cryptocurrencies and the eventual revelation of exactly what had happened?Īccording to data from Coinmarketcap, most of the world’s leading cryptocurrencies saw a sharp dip at around 11 p.m. On Friday, the Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange CoinCheck announced that it had been hit by the biggest cryptocurrency heist in the history of the technology.įor now, CoinCheck says the only cryptocurrency affected is NEM, the world’s tenth largest, as $400 million of its XEM tokens were stolen from the firm.

Coincheck hack timeline