Approximately $530 million worth of NEM tokens (XEM) were stolen in the January Coincheck hack.
The NEM price surged 16 percent on Tuesday, defying the bearish trend that characterized every other top-tier cryptocurrency.
NEM Price Surges 16 Percent as Other Top Coins Tumble
It was a disappointing day for cryptocurrency investors, as 97 of the top 100 coins posted single-day declines. However, the NEM price (XEM) not only resisted this bearish trend — it actually managed to achieve a double-digit percentage increase against the US dollar.
At present, NEM is trading at $0.44 on Poloniex, which is roughly in line with the token’s global average. NEM has a market cap of just under $4 billion, which makes it the 11th-largest cryptocurrency according to this metric.
NEM trading volume is currently heavily concentrated in Asian markets, with the majority of it denominated in fiat trading pairs. South Korea-based Upbit’s XEM/KRW market accounts for just under 33 percent of all NEM volume, while Japanese exchange Zaif’s XEM/JPY pair comprises another 26 percent.
NEM Price Rises as Coincheck Compensates Users for Record-Setting Theft
NEM’s rally has correlated with Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck’s announcement that it was beginning to refund customers who lost NEM tokens (XEM) as a result of the January theft that saw hackers abscond with more than 500 million XEM.
As CCN.com reported, those tokens were worth $530 million at the time of the hack, making it the single-largest cryptocurrency theft in history, as measured by USD value. Today, though, those tokens are worth just $225 million at market prices.
However, Coincheck is compensating users at 88.549 JPY per token (~$0.83) — nearly double the present exchange rate — for a total payout of approximately $415 million. Presumably, most users will use their refunds to purchase NEM tokens, and — given the disparity between the refund price and market price — it is likely that many will increase their holdings over what they had before the hack.
Indeed, this appears to be the case, as Zaif’s XEM/JPY pair accounts for more than one-fourth of NEM’s global trading volume.
NEM trading volume rarely eclipses $100 million, so it is quite conceivable that the Coincheck payout could place significant upward pressure on the NEM price — if investors continue to inject those funds back into XEM markets, that is.
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