Following the biggest cybertheft in history – $534 million from Japan’s Coincheck – cryptocurrencies are soaring back higher after the exchange confirmed that it will issue full refunds to all of the 260,000 of its users who have become victims of the Friday NEM hack.
As a reminder, the Coincheck exchange was hacked Friday, Jan. 26, resulting in a massive loss of 523 mln NEM coins, worth approximately $534 mln at that time. During a press release following the hack it has been revealed by the exchange’s representatives that the funds were stored on a single-signature hot wallet, constituting a relatively low-security environment.
But now, as CoinTelegraph reports, the company has now confirmed its intention to refund the stolen money to the affected users. According to the announcement, the refunds will be done using the exchange’s own capital.
The company is still considering the exact timing and methodology for the process. However, it has already announced that the compensation for each NEM coin will be JPY 88.549, which is the weighted average exchange rate during the period from when the trading was halted to the release of the latest announcement.
Coincheck indicated that they are referencing the XEM/JPY exchange rate at Zaif, another Japanese exchange which has the most trading volume for XEM globally.
Furthermore, Coincheck has again confirmed their intention to stay in business, as opposed to declaring bankruptcy, saying:
”Along with our ongoing efforts to file applications to be registered as a Cryptocurrency Exchange Service Provider with Financial Services Agency, we will continue business.”
NEM soared back to recent highs after the headlines hit…
The crypto community has shown support for Coincheck after this action and the development team behind NEM has announced that it is working on an automated system that will track the stolen coins and tag all addresses that receive the “tainted” money. This will allow any cryptocurrency exchange to blacklist the hackers’ accounts, preventing them from ever cashing out their illegally obtained fortune.
The positive sentiment in NEM and the Japanese markets has sparked a rally in the broader crypto markets with Ethereum leading the bounce…
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Additionally, this rebound follows a week-long attack from the great-and-good elites in Davos. As CoinTelegraph reports, Full Tilt Capital Partner Anthony Pompliano was scathing in his analysis of the prevailing sentiment floating around in Davos towards Bitcoin.
The former Facebook product and growth manager suggested that statements made by economist Joseph Stiglitz that Bitcoin was still used for shady purposes actually has the opposite effect of driving people away from cryptocurrency adoption.
Joseph Stiglitz, well-known economist, is bragging to the Davos crowd that Bitcoin is used for “secret use cases” & that fiat currency is superior. My theory is that this type of fear-mongering actually drives more adoption of Bitcoin & cryptocurrencies.https://t.co/zhy5hB486Y
— Pomp 🌪 (@APompliano) January 24, 2018
Max Keiser, host of the Keiser Report on RT, also touched on the wave of negativity around Bitcoin in Davos, but said it was too late for big financial industry players to try to stop what he described as a ‘revolution.’
Those at Davos threatened by #Bitcoin maybe could have thwarted the revolution 5 yrs ago. But now it’s too late. Go home guys, your time is over. https://t.co/SMoDw8DSxu
— Max Keiser (@maxkeiser) January 24, 2018
Renowned American investor Bill Gross suggested that the rise of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency has signaled a move away from centralized institutions governing and controlling money. People seem to be putting their trust in technology over government-run establishments.
Bitcoin’s rise may reflect, for better or worse, a monumental transfer of social trust: away from human institutions backed by government and to systems reliant on well-tested computer code.. #WEF18 https://t.co/6hWKq6Lo6U #Davos pic.twitter.com/Ltuh6owdzm
— Bill Gross (@Bill_Gross) January 23, 2018
Twitter users CryptoWilson highlighted more negative sentiment towards cryptocurrency, sharing a video of French President Emmanuel Macron speaking in favor of regulatory crackdowns by the International Monetary Fund on cryptocurrency.
Macron ‘triggered by Bitcoin’ at Davos: “I am in favor of the IMF having full competence over the whole areas that escape regulation: bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, shadow banking […] which can trigger crises.” https://t.co/XZ1Vyj0tB4
— Wilson Trodler (@cryptowilson) January 25, 2018
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