TECH NEWS – Hackers have attacked leading Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Liquid, stealing an estimated nearly $100 million in bitcoin. This is still only the second largest cryptocurrency heist in recent days.

“We regret to announce that #LiquidGlobal‘s hot wallets have been compromised, assets are being moved to the cold wallet,” the company wrote on Twitter. So-called “warm” or “hot” digital wallets are usually online-based and designed to give users more accessible access to their cryptocurrencies. In contrast, “cold” wallets are offline, harder to access and therefore generally safer.

Incident update – 21st August 2021:

We have completed setting up our new MPC infrastructure with heightened security; and are now in the process of testing and migrating our assets to the new secure vaults. We expect to restore services early next week.https://t.co/UaakRgrR4v

— Liquid Global Official (@Liquid_Global) August 21, 2021

According to an analysis by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, around $97 million in cryptocurrency was stolen, with Bitcoin and Ethereum tokens among the loot. Liquid said it is tracking the movement of stolen cryptocurrencies and is working with other exchanges to freeze and recover assets.

Founded in 2014, Liquid operates in more than 100 countries and serves millions of customers worldwide. According to CoinMarketCap, it is one of the top 20 cryptocurrency exchanges in the world by daily trading volume.

Six times stole last week

Liquid is not the only Japanese cryptocurrency platform to have been hit by a large-scale theft. In 2014, the Tokyo-based MtGox exchange collapsed after almost half a billion dollars worth of bitcoin went missing, while Coincheck was hacked in 2018 in a $530 million heist.

Last week, $600 million was stolen from blockchain site Poly Network after a hacker exploited a vulnerability in the system. “The amount hacked is one of the largest in the history of DeFi [decentralised finance],” Poly Network said. Since then, the hacker, who goes by Mr White Hat, has returned around $427 million of the assets.

Source: BBC News