Crytocurrency: $533m lost to hacking at Japan exchange

Some 58 billion yen (533 million dollars) in cryptocurrency has disappeared from a Japanese exchange due to hacking, local media reported Saturday.

The Coincheck exchange, the operator of the cryptocurrency called NEM, said on its website on Friday that it had suspended sales and withdrawals of the currency as well as trades of most other cryptocurrencies and the Japanese yen.

Speaking at a news conference late Friday, Coincheck president Koichiro Wada apologized for the incident and said the company might seek financial assistance, the Kyodo News agency reported.

Coincheck, which calls itself the leading Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency exchange in Asia, said it had detected the unauthorized access to the system shortly before 3 am Friday (1800 GMT Thursday).

In 2014, about 48 billion yen was lost on the Mt Gox bitcoin exchange in Tokyo.(dpa/NAN)