THE world of virtual money has once again been rocked by a massive theft.
On 26 January, hackers broke into Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck and made off with $534 million-worth of a currency known as NEM, the world鈥檚 tenth largest by market value. 鈥淭his is the biggest theft in the history of the world,鈥� Lon Wong, president of the NEM.io Foundation, told the website . Coincheck knocks Mt Gox, another Tokyo exchange, off the top spot: in 2014, Mt Gox collapsed after losing around $400 million in a similar theft.
Coincheck says it kept the NEM coins in a less secure wallet that was connected to the internet. On Monday, the exchange said it would pay around $400 million to the 260,000 people who lost their holdings.
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The boom in cryptocurrencies has made them a target for criminals. Last week, masked men broke into the home of a bitcoin trader in the village of Moulsford, UK, and forced him to transfer bitcoin.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淏iggest theft in the history of the world鈥�
