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Japan Police Identify 30 People Linked to $530 Million Coincheck Hack

Thu, 01/21/2021 - 18:18
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Alex Dovbnya
Japanese police officers have nabbed 30 individuals that are linked to the infamous Coincheck hack
Japan Police Identify 30 People Linked to $530 Million Coincheck Hack
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According to a report published by Nikkei Asia, about 30 individuals that were part of illicit transactions linked to the $530 million Coincheck hack have been nabbed by Japanese police.

As reported by U.Today, Takayoshi Doi and Masaki Kitamoto, the two men who masterminded the high-profile heist, got arrested back in March 2020.   

Tokyo-based Coincheck suffered a massive breach back in January 2018, losing 523 million NEM (XEM) tokens kept in its hot wallet.

In March 2018, it delivered hefty cash compensation totaling $435 million to its affected customers.     

Related
Coincheck Starts Road to Recovery After Hack, Lifts Restrictions and Pays Back Customers

Tainted tokens 

The bad actors were identified by tracing the trail of their ill-gotten crypto that was reportedly offered on the dark web at a 15 percent discount.  

Since NEM tagged all stolen XEM tokens as tainted, it was very challenging to convert them into Bitcoin or fiat currencies without being noticed.    

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About the author

Alex Dovbnya (aka AlexMorris) is a cryptocurrency expert, trader and journalist with extensive experience of covering everything related to the burgeoning industry — from price analysis to Blockchain disruption. Alex authored more than 1,000 stories for U.Today, CryptoComes and other fintech media outlets. He’s particularly interested in regulatory trends around the globe that are shaping the future of digital assets, can be contacted at alex.dovbnya@u.today.