Hackers have succeeded again. This time the victim was the famous cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia. The exchange confirms the security breach and reports that the losses are significant.

Cryptopia hacked

The New-Zeeland based cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia has suffered a major security breach. Hackers were able to steal a significant amount of money. The exchange just announced it on social media via Twitter. The hack occurred yesterday, January 14th 2019, and the exchange report that the losses are significant. Cryptopia did not mention a specific amount.

However, according to a transaction on Etherscan 19, 390 ETH got moved from Cryptopia’s wallet to an unknown address. The value of the transaction was more than $2,5 million. Even though we cannot confirm that this is the hackers doing, it is highly suspicious.

According to their website, they are under maintenance. The message pops up when users try to access the page. Worth noting is that the first official tweet on the exchange’s Twitter profile regarding unscheduled maintenance is from January 13th. That was two days ago. One day before that security breach occurred.

It has not gone past unnoticed. The popular bitcoin proponent Whale Panda said that the exchange has become irrelevant. He also added that it’s somewhat interesting that the attack took place during a bear market where small exchanges struggle to stay afloat. He hinted that the possibility of an inside job could not be ruled out.

However, Cryptopia made it clear that the appropriate Government Agencies, the NZ Police, and the High Tech Crimes Unit have been informed and are working jointly on investigating the issue.

Cryptopia not the first hacked exchange

The exchange Cryptopia becomes the first hacked cryptocurrency exchange in 2019. A few weeks ago Bithumb was hacked, and a client lost around $355,000. According to the client, Bithumb lacked security measures which gave the hackers the possibility to hack the account. The hacker drained Park’s account of all funds except a few cents. The hacker gained access to Parks’s account for only a few hours, but it was enough time for the hackers.

A Japanese exchange, Zaif, suffered a cruel faith. News outlets reported the hack on September 14th 2014. Around $40 million worth of crypto was stolen from user hot wallets, while the hackers took an additional $20 million from the company itself. A few months ago, Toshi Times covered a story about North Korean cybercriminals, behind 14 attacks on exchanges. The North Korean state-sponsored hacking outfit could be responsible for the theft of a whopping $571 million.

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