At the time of the theft, the 50 million TIO tokens were worth roughly $11 million.

The exchange claims the hackers sent 1.3 million TIO to Kucoin and Bancor crypto exchanges.

TIO trading has now been suspended on Kucoin and trade.io, with the coin permanently delisted from Bancor exchange.

Trade.io cryptoassets exchange and trading venue have reportedly lost 50 million TIO tokens to bad actors who succeeded in transferring the altcoins away from its cold wallet it claims to have been stored in a safety deposit box at a bank, according to a Finance Magnates report on October 21, 2018.

50 Million TIO Gone Forever?

Trade.io, a Swiss-based distributed ledger technology (DLT) startup that claims to offer initial coin offering (ICO) services, cryptocurrency trading as well as other traditional financial products to clients, has reportedly fallen victim to hackers.

Per sources close to the matter, at about 8:40 EST (14:40 GMT) on October 21, 2018, an unauthorized transfer of 50 million TIO token occurred on the firm’s cryptocurrency wallet reportedly stored in a safety box at a bank.

Once the digital assets appeared in their wallet, the hackers transferred 1.3 million (about $197,000 at the time) TIO to Bancor and Kucoin cryptocurrency exchanges, prompting Trade.io to request that both cryptocurrency trading venues freeze all TIO transactions.

While all trading activities involving Trade.io’s native altcoin have been suspended on trade.io as well as on Kucoin, Bancor exchange has removed the coin permanently from its platform.

Trade.io Plans a Fork

According to a statement by Trade.io, the stolen funds were intended to be used in taking care of its ‘liquidity pool’ as clients earn interests on unused funds stored on the platform.

However, with the entire funds gone, the platform has made it clear it’s looking to carry out a fork that would salvage the situation by rendering the stolen funds useless.

TIO Trading Service Temporarily Closed See the official announcement here:https://t.co/96hr7nbmhW pic.twitter.com/Dq0yvpZpfO — KuCoin Updates (@KuCoinUpdates) October 21, 2018

Trade.io Targeted by Competitors?

Of a truth, digital assets kept in cold storage are much safer than those in hot wallets, bad actors can still tamper with the funds in offline wallets if they find a way to get the password or passphrase of the wallet.

The exchange claims it is apparent that it has become a prime target for competitors trying to crush its business.

The Trade.io team have however pledged to remain stronger and continue to wage war against rogue actors.