5億美元的虛擬貨幣NEM，被駭光光

【Comment】

Guess the world never lacks of Jessie James, John Dillinger or Al Capone, and the Conspiracy theory prevails.

The cryptocurrency exchange admitted that it has been hacked and has lost NEM for some 500 m USD, the largest one ever.

The feature unbreakability, or blockchain, is the most important feature of the cryptocurrency.  Now it fails.

The exchange, in fact, does not know where the money goes by saying “We are tracing them and if we’re able to continue tracking, it may be possible to recover them.”  

All NEM, with less security protection others and was welcomed by private investors, was stolen.  

Bank of Japan and other major banks are discussing the possibility of J-Coin, based on Japanese Yen.

This will certainly trigger further discussions and regulations by the existing institutions.

The war between the central banks and internet communities began. 

Coincheck Says It Lost Crypto Coins Valued at About $400 Million    Bloomberg20180128

The disclosure that one of Japan’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges lost about $400 million in NEM tokens is spooking investors in a country still wary of such venues four years after the collapse of Mt. Gox.

After hours of speculation Friday night, Coincheck Inc. said the coins were sent “illicitly” outside the venue.  Co-founder Yusuke Otsuka said the company didn’t know how the 500 million tokens went missing, and the firm is working to ensure the safety of all client assets.  Coincheck said earlier it had suspended all withdrawals, halted trading in all tokens except Bitcoin, and stopped deposits into NEM coins.

“We know where the funds were sent,” Otsuka said during a late-night press conference at the Tokyo Stock Exchange.  “We are tracing them and if we’re able to continue tracking, it may be possible to recover them.  But it is something we are investigating at the moment."

The disappearance likely ranks among the biggest losses or thefts of investor assets since the advent of digital currencies with the launch of Bitcoin in 2009.  Japan’s Financial Services Agency said in a statement it is “looking into the facts surrounding Coincheck.”

NEM, the 10th-largest cryptocurrency by market value, fell 11 percent over a 24-hour period, to 87 cents, as of 2:30 p.m.  Tokyo time Saturday, according to Coinmarketcap.com. Bitcoin dropped 3.4 percent and Ripple retreated 9.9 percent on Friday, according to prices available on Bloomberg.

“Caveat emptor,” said Yvonne Zhang, who had spoken on a panel on the future of cryptocurrencies at an Association of Futures Markets conference in Bangkok on Friday.  “The ‘investors’ that did not do due diligence and take time to understand what they’re trading in, both venue and subject matter, face unhedgable risks.  If they continue to ‘trade’ the same way knowing the murky nature of this market, they’re gambling.”

“I’m shocked,” Takeshi Fujimaki, an opposition Japan Innovation Party politician who once served briefly as an adviser to George Soros, tweeted on Saturday.  He wrote that he has an investment of more than 10 million yen worth of Bitcoin in Coincheck.

In Japan, one of the world’s biggest markets for cryptocurrencies, policy makers have introduced a licensing system to increase oversight of local venues, seeking to avoid a repeat of the Mt. Gox exchange collapse that roiled cryptocurrency markets worldwide in 2014.  At that time, the theft of Bitcoin was estimated at about $450 million, though the figure was revised down later.

Coincheck had applied with the agency for a license as an exchange, and was able to continue operating under the FSA’s rules while awaiting a decision. As a result, Coincheck falls under the supervision of the agency, an official said.

Cryptocurrency exchanges, many of which operate with little to no regulation, have suffered a spate of outages and hacks amid the trading boom that propelled Bitcoin and its peers to record highs last year.

“What’s the lasting impact?  It’s hard to tell,” said Marc Ostwald, global strategist at ADM Investor Services International in London.  “Japan is one of the most pro-crypto trading countries, among the G-20.  In Japan they don’t really want a wholesale clampdown.  So it will be interesting how Japanese regulators respond to this, if they indeed do."

Like Bitcoin, NEM is a cryptocurrency built on top of blockchain, but it uses a more environmentally-friendly method to confirm transactions, according to its website.  Bitcoin mining requires significant computing power, while NEM says it does not.

Coincheck, founded in 2012, had 71 employees as of July with headquarters in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, an area popular with startups that was also home to Mt. Gox, according to Coincheck’s website.  Last year, it began running commercials on national television featuring popular local comedian Tetsuro Degawa.

For a menu of cryptocurrencies on Bloomberg: VCCY
For Bitcoin prices: XBT Curncy

— With assistance by Todd White, and Nao Sano

日本Coincheck虛擬貨幣交易所被駭 外流金額高達156億    中時20180128

位於東京都澀谷區的虛擬貨幣交易所「Coincheck」26日宣布，因遭外來的駭客入侵，使替顧客保管的約580億日圓(約台幣156億餘元)的虛擬貨幣「NEM」外流，目前正在調查原因和受害人數。日本2014年曾發生「MTGOX」交易所約465億日圓的虛擬貨幣消失的糾紛，這次的受害金額再創新高。

「Coincheck」26日深夜召開記者會指出，26日上午11時左右公司內部發現NEM的餘額大幅減少，下午買賣和存取款停止，之後包括比特幣等所有虛擬貨幣和日圓都停止出帳。

該公司已向金融廳和警視廳報告受害情況，目前正在調查原因和NEM的流向。據了解，「Coincheck」擁有的NEM幾乎全部都消失，何時可恢復交易、如何對顧客賠償等目前還不清楚。

虛擬貨幣交易所為防範類似的糾紛，大多採用可阻絕來自網路連線的電腦來保管數據資料等較安全的網路對策，然而「Coincheck」卻沒有對NEM採取相關對策。該公司社長和田晃一良在記者會上表示，「阻隔網路的離線保管在技術上有困難，人才也不足」。

日本金融廳為了監督虛擬貨幣業界，去年春天起實施虛擬貨幣交易所登記制度。「Coincheck」也申請登記，但在出事前尚未完成登記，惟在法律上仍有義務向金融廳報告受害的狀況。

NEM的市價約1兆日圓規模，雖然沒有比特幣有人氣，但仍受到個人投資家的歡迎。除了NEM之外的虛擬貨幣和日圓等目前並未發現任何受害的情形。