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Coincheck Clients Withdraw $372 Million; NEM Theft Refunds are Coming

Last Updated March 4, 2021 5:04 PM
Samburaj Das
Last Updated March 4, 2021 5:04 PM

After removing a temporary freeze on withdrawals today, Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck said it has completed transfers worth 40.1 billion JPY ($372 million) in withdrawal requests by customers.

Weeks after suffering the ignominy of being the victim of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency theft, ever, Coincheck has kept its promise to lift the temporary suspension on customers’ JPY funds by processing withdrawal transfers today.

In an announcement  today, the exchange operator said:

“[W]e have restarted operations for withdrawals of JPY. As of today, we have completed transfers for all withdrawal requests made by 3 pm on the 11th of this month (around 40.1 billion JPY).”

It has been a busy Tuesday for the exchange operator, first filing a report  with Japans’ financial regulator as a response to the latter’s business improvement order on the same day. In it, Coincheck outlined details of its investigation surrounding the theft of the stolen NEM, installing proper support channels to customers, strengthening its cybersecurity posture to manage system risks and introduce new measures to prevent a similar theft in the future.

While lifting the temporary ban on withdrawals of fiat yen deposits, Coincheck hasn’t revealed any specific dates for withdrawals of customers’ cryptocurrency holdings at the exchange. The exchange is reportedly switching to more secure accounts for some cryptocurrency holdings. Crypto withdrawals will only resume after the exchange determines a secure management system, the Nikkei  reports. Offline storage (cold wallet storage) of cryptocurrencies is the likely way forward.

The exchange wrote:

“We are continuing to confirm and improve the security of our systems in order to resume transfers of other cryptocurrencies and begin reparation payments as soon as possible.”

In a dramatic press conference on January 26, Coincheck executives confirmed widespread rumors of the theft of 526 million NEM tokens, worth a massive $530 million at the time. Less than three weeks later, the embattled exchange is staging a quick recovery amid its promise of reimbursing 260,000 NEM holders who were victims of the hack.

As reported by local Bloomberg reporter Yuji Nakamura , Coincheck will focus on compensating losses suffered by NEM holders before resuming cryptocurrency withdrawals. More pertinently, the reporter adds Coincheck has the necessary funds to repay customers losses, with a date for compensation to be revealed soon.

Featured image from Shutterstock.