Barely one weeks after digital token platform Poly Network was hacked in a $600m heist, another crypto exchange has suffered cyber-attack.
Leading Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Liquid has been hit by hackers, with almost $100m estimated to have been stolen. The company said that some of its digital currency wallets have been “compromised.”
“We are sorry to announce that #LiquidGlobal warm wallets were compromised, we are moving assets into the cold wallet,” the company said on Twitter.
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The culminating cases of digital wallets’ heists have cast doubt on the security of exchanges, depleting investors’ trust in putting their money in the digital asset.
So-called ‘warm’ or ‘hot’ digital wallets are usually based online and designed to allow users to access their cryptocurrencies more easily, while ‘cold’ wallets are offline and harder to access and therefore usually more secure.
Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic said its analysis showed that around $97m in cryptocurrencies had been taken, with Bitcoin and Ethereum tokens amongst the haul, according to BBC.
Liquid has said that it was tracing the movement of the stolen cryptocurrencies and working with other exchanges to freeze and recover the assets.
Liquid was founded in 2014 and operates in over 100 countries, serving millions of customers around the world.
It is one of the world’s top 20 biggest cryptocurrency exchanges by daily trading volumes, according to CoinMarketCap data.
More than a week ago, $600m was stolen from blockchain site Poly Network after a hacker exploited a vulnerability in its system.
“The amount of money you have hacked is one of the biggest in defi [decentralised finance] history,” Poly Network said.
Since then the hacker, who goes under the name of Mr White Hat, has returned around $427 million of the assets, and has been reportedly offered a job by Poly Network.
Liquid is not the only Japanese cryptocurrency platform to be hit by a major heist.
In 2014, Tokyo-based exchange MtGox collapsed after almost half a billion dollars of bitcoin went missing, while Coincheck was hacked in a $530m heist in 2018.
Since 2011, hackers have stolen more than $8 billion worth of cryptocurrencies. According to a report from Amsterdam-based blockchain analytics firm Crystal Blockchain, over $2.8 billion was stolen through exchange security breaches that totaled 113 as of last year, and has increased following a number of heists in 2021.
The exchanges are being targeted as bitcoin and the rest of cryptocurrencies gain mainstream acceptance. Bitcoin is gradually rising from its months of slump that started in April, following concern about the impact of mining on the environment. The crypto coin neared $50,000 for the first time in more than three months as players work to stem the tides that have resulted in massive selloffs.