Cryptopia, a New Zealand-based cryptocurrency exchange that has earlier this year seen hackers access its wallets and steal cryptos estimated to be worth dozens of millions of dollars, is seemingly getting ready to relaunch.
According to tweets the company has recently published after being silent since February 14, it’s currently working on “assessing the impact incurred as a result of the hack.” Its current calculations point to a worst-case scenario in which 9.4% of its total holdings were stolen the tweet reads.
Cryptopia added that it’s currently securing each wallet individually, to ensure its secure when it gets back online.
Update: We are securing each wallet individually to ensure the exchange is fully secure when we resume trading.
We have more updates to come today, please keep an eye on our page.— Cryptopia Exchange (@Cryptopia_NZ) February 27, 2019
In a follow-up tweet, Cryptopia further added that since it’s securing its wallets, its users shouldn’t deposit any funds to its old addresses. In its tweets, it revealed more updates are set to be revealed tomorrow.
As CryptoGlobe covered, New Zealand’s authorities gave Cryptopia the green light to “open again whenever they like” earlier this month. Detective inspector Greg Murton was, at the time, quoted as saying that authorities finished “the main part of the work required” at its offices, leaving Cryptopia free to reopen.
Speaking to the NZ Herald, Murton added:
Cryptopia management have full access to their facilities and business premises and the Police investigation is not preventing their business from getting up and running again.
At the time, Murton refused to comment on how much was stolen from the crypto exchange’s wallets, or on whether any changes to its security had been implemented. Experts have estimated hackers managed to take $23 million in the attack, although the exact figure is unclear.
Notably, the hack itself was an unusual one, according to an investigation conducted by Elementus. Its researchers found that 76,000 wallets were penetrated in the attack, which means thousands of private keys were obtained.
Elementus’ research only used Ethereum and ERC-20 token data as evidence. It found a glaring “lack of urgency,” as the hit lasted weeks, while most hacks on crypto exchanges are fast and see one wallet get breached.
While theories as to who’s responsible abound, the hackers have already cashed out $3.2 million through exchanges. $2 million were cashed out through decentralized exchange EtherDelta.
At press time, Cryptopia’s website is still displaying a message informing users of what happened.
