Hacked BITpoint Gives Details of Attack, Reopens Doors for Business

Hacked Japanese cryptocurrency exchange BITpoint has partially resumed trading – and says its investigation has found that criminals used malware to access the platform’s hot wallets.

The exchange was attacked last month, with hackers making off with some USD 32 million worth of cryptocurrencies, with a staggering 50,000 customers affected (about half of its total usership). More than half of the tokens were stolen from customer wallets, with the remainder coming from company funds.

But per a press release from Remixpoint, the loyalty points platform that operates BITpoint, trading, deposits and withdrawals of yen and other conventional currencies has now restarted.

The exchange says it will reimburse customers who have been affected by the hack in September.

BITpoint said that the hackers had used malware to access private keys on hot wallets in order to gain access to the funds. The company added that there was “no evidence” that the hackers had accessed the network using stolen passwords and user IDs, and said that “no leakage of user information” had taken place.

And BITpoint stated that its “partial suspension” of server operations had been done as a security measure. The company added it was conducting a full review of server access protocols, upgrading its anti-virus software and introducing measures that would help it monitor unauthorized access.

The company also says that it will resume over-the-counter (OTC) and margin trading services on Friday this week, with spot trading services starting up again a week today. Customers will be able to receive cryptocurrency deposits again as of October, with new accounts and any other remaining services starting up again after that.

Meanwhile, Jiji reports that the head of the Monex Group, Ohki Matsumoto, has declared he wants his company’s Coincheck exchange to list Facebook’s forthcoming Libra token – providing it is classified as a cryptocurrency, rather than a stablecoin, under Japanese law.

Matsumoto says that Coincheck’s recent listing of Monacoin has brought a lot of new customers to the platform, and is keen to add more pairings in the near future. The Monex chief has previously announced he wants his company to join the Libra Association, and has already filed a membership application with Facebook.