Coincheck to reimburse investors post hack.
After investors at Coincheck suffering losses due to the big heist at this Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, Yusuke Otsuka, the Chief Operating Officer at Coincheck Inc., announced that the company will now start reimbursing customers at a rate of about 88 yen (US$ 84) for each NEM coin that was stolen from their accounts.
This totals to approximately $440 million.
To add to the updates, the exchange also said it plans to resume services for some cryptocurrencies from next week. Coincheck froze all withdrawals of yen and cryptocurrencies following the heist and resumed yen withdrawals last month.
The theft occurred on January 26, during which the 500 million NEM coins were worth a total of $534 million. Since then, however, the price of NEM has slumped amid a broad retreat in cryptocurrencies. Priced at $0.36 each at the moment of writing, the 500 million coins are now worth a total of $180 million. So, for a regular fiat-currency kind of investor, it would seem like customers have hit the jackpot, with the extra $260 million. But of course, Coincheck is obliged to repay NEM for the stolen NEM.
To be just with the victims, the company’s first statement regarding the reimbursement came less than 48 hours after the hack: “The timing of the reimbursement and the application process are currently under consideration. The source of the refunded money is being carried out using our own capital.”
So, the cryptocurrency exchange will be using its own funds to start the payouts starting next week. Otsuka added that the company has bolstered its security measures. Since the hack, customers have withdrawn about 60 billion yen ($566 million) in cash.
With this happening, Japanese authorities on Thursday (March 8) ordered two cryptocurrency exchanges to suspend operations as part of a clampdown following a massive hack that saw thieves steal hundreds of millions of dollars in virtual currency.
On the news post announcement, we have noted that NEM (XEM) price is on an upward roll as it was going to start reimbursing customers who lost their funds in the $530 million hack in January.
The CEO and founder of NEM.io, Lon Wong has issued a statement thanking the NEM community for being supportive. The attack negatively impacted XEM/USD price. The CEO said that they share in the frustration, sense of loss and violation of Coincheck and the investors.
In conclusion,
Coinbase, at a news conference on 08th March 2018 (Thursday) said that all of the 260,000 users impacted by the theft of NEM coins in the Jan. 26 theft will be reimbursed according to conversion rates detailed by Coincheck after the attack.
Want to know more about Coincheck’s whereabouts? Read here: https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Bitcoin-evolution/Coincheck-aims-to-resume-operations-next-week
http://altcoinalerts.com/coincheck-to-reimburse-investors-post-hack/