Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin confirmed Friday that 4,502.9 bitcoins, or about $305 million, were stolen in a hack.
According to cryptocurrency security company Elliptic, this is the eighth-largest cryptocurrency theft in history.
DMM Bitcoin said on Friday that it had detected “an unauthorized exfiltration of Bitcoin (BTC) from our wallets” and that it was still investigating and had taken steps to prevent further thefts. The cryptocurrency exchange said it had “implemented restrictions on the use of some services to ensure additional safety,” according to a machine translation of the company's official blog post written in Japanese.
The company also promised that “with the support of our group companies, we will raise an equivalent amount of BTC that has been leaked, thus fully securing the Bitcoin deposits of all our customers.”
DMM Bitcoin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last year, hackers stole nearly $2 billion worth of cryptocurrency through dozens of cyberattacks and thefts, according to De.Fi, a web3 security company that tracks cryptocurrency theft and fraud. This is still a huge amount of cryptocurrency, but the total is the lowest it has been since 2020.
