The hackers stole $16 million worth of cryptocurrencies from Cryptopia. They have struck again, 15 days later, stealing another $180 thousand.

Cryptopia suffers major losses through hacks.

Two weeks ago, Toshi Times covered the story when the hack on Cryptopia occurred. While nobody knew how severe the attack was, the exchange lost millions. Users still cannot access the website because of the hack which occurred on the 14th of January. The hack got reported, and the New Zeeland police said that the case was complex. Although police authorities have, so far, refrained from releasing an official figure, it is said to be a ”significant amount.” Reports also indicate that New Zealand authorities have dispatched a large investigative team to Cryptopia’s Christchurch offices. They thought the hackers stole around $3.

However, Elementus, the blockchain data science firm figured out that the Cryptopia hackers had gotten away with about eight times the amount reported. The hackers got away with some $16 million worth of crypto tokens.

Hackers struck again on Cryptopia

While the hackers stole a major amount of, money, they have now struck again after 15-days. This time they stole another $180 thousand. Elementus previously noted that many Cryptopia wallets were still vulnerable to attack. Elementus CEO Max Galka stated:

“Among the wallets affected are the 1,948 at-risk wallets we identified previously, some of which have continued to accrue funds as recently as today. The list also includes over 5,000 wallets that were drained in the original hack. But have since then been topped up, presumably by unknowing Cryptopia users.”

The hackers seem to have used the following ETH address: 0x3b46c790ff408e987928169bd1904b6d71c00305 and eventually moved it to 0xaa923cd02364bb8a4c3d6f894178d2e12231655c which now hold roughly 30 789 ETH. It is worth around $3,3 million. Galka revealed that it was the address used during the first hacking attack. He writes:

“Initially, it looked like that could be the case, but by 9:50 PM this evening, it became obvious this was the same hacker. At that time, the incoming transfers stopped, and we moved the funds to the address below, one of the wallets used in the prior series of breaches.”

Even though the hackers stole a great amount of money, people still deposit money into Cryptopia for some reason. Many bitcoin and cryptocurrency enthusiasts argue that if you do not hold your private keys, you do not own your cryptocurrencies. It has become very clear following the Cryptopia hack. They have even created a yearly event called “proof of keys” for the very purpose for crypto users to take control of their cryptos. Galka says that most of the money comes from mining pools.

“Most of the funds are coming from mining pools. Presumably, these payments are being sent on behalf of miners who opted to receive their rewards automatically via “direct deposit,” and have since forgotten about it.”

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