Coincheck, the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange that was hacked in January, resumed yen withdrawals, as announced on February 9. The company said it completed transfers for all withdrawal requests made by 3 pm local time on February 11.
The exchange has processed 40.1 billion yen withdrawals as of February 13.
On January 26, it emerged that 523 million NEM coins, worth 58 billion yen or $531 million then, were stolen from Coincheck.
The company said it will repay the nearly 260,000 affected users in Japanese yen. However, Coincheck is yet to offer a time frame for repayment and the resumption of normal business.
Citing comments from Coincheck Chief Operating Officer Yusuke Otsuka, the Nikkei Asian Review reported that the exchange is considering a capital tie-up with another company.
At a press conference, Otsuka denied that Coincheck has any intention of voluntarily exiting the cryptocurrency exchange business, the Nikkei report added.
The Nikkei reported on February 10 that a recently created darknet website is offering to exchange NEM for other cryptocurrencies.
Through this route, more than 500 million yen of the 58 billion yen in NEM coins that was stolen from Coincheck has been converted into other virtual currencies such as Bitcoin, the report added.
Following the Coincheck hack, the NEM.io Foundation had created an automated tagging system to follow the money on the NEM blockchain and tag any account that receives stolen money. This way, the money that was hacked via exchanges cannot leave.
Coincheck announced on February 9 that it has confirmed the security of its system with the help of outside experts.
"We plan to lift restrictions on withdrawals of cryptocurrencies and other temporary feature restrictions as soon as we are able to guarantee the secure resumption of operations for each feature," the company said in a statement that day.
Japan's Financial Services Authority had ordered Coincheck to study the security flaws and beef up its protective measures, and report back by February 13.
The company announced that it has delivered a report to the watchdog that includes a probe into the facts and causes of the hack, support offered to customers, steps taken to strengthen measures to deal with system risk, and creation of new measures to enhance security.
by RTT Staff Writer
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