Cryptopia appoints liquidators after hack, trading suspended

[whynotmakeit]

Cryptopia appoints liquidators after hack, trading suspended

This news in nz this morning

Trading on the exchange is suspended while the investigation takes place, expected to take months "given the complexities involved"......

Shareholders were informed on Tuesday as the company's premises in the suburb of Sydenham were locked down, and the company posted a notice on its website say, "Don't panic. We are currently in maintenance.

International cyrptocurrency traders and technology news services expressed frustration about the failure of owners Adam Clark and Rob Dawson to communicate.

The building was mostly deserted with doors locked, and a security guard ordered a Stuff reporter from the premises as a chain and padlock on the car park gates were unlocked to allow a car in.

Several people close to the company who declined to be named have described how the company downsized in recent weeks, leaving a skeleton crew.

The big question remained over whether the company still had investors' funds held securely.

One of the callers said the police investigators looking into the $23m losses had not known how to investigate the complexities of cyber crime.

A police spokeswoman said the investigation was continuing.

 

[CryptoKujira]

Can you unbold everything so we can read it without popping our eyes out of the socket from strain?

 

[MisterF]

Can you unbold everything so we can read it without popping our eyes out of the socket from strain?

Better?

 

[whynotmakeit]

Can you unbold everything so we can read it without popping our eyes out of the socket from strain?

Sorry about that. First time I have made a post from the mobile... Looked fine there

 

[whynotmakeit]

And this now when you try and log on

Press release
15/05/2019
David Ruscoe and Russell Moore from Grant Thornton New Zealand were yesterday appointed liquidators of Cryptopia
Despite the efforts of management to reduce cost and return the business to profitability, it was decided the appointment of liquidators was, in the best interests of customers, staff and other stakeholders.

The liquidators are focused on securing the assets for the benefit of all stakeholders. While this process and investigations take place, trading on the exchange is suspended.

“Given the complexities involved we expect the investigation to take months rather than weeks.”

The liquidators are also working with independent experts and the relevant authorities with regards to the company’s obligations.

Grant Thornton will be contacting all customers and suppliers about its appointment in the next few days.

Further enquiries, please email [email protected]

 

[CryptoKujira]

Much better. Thanks man.

A lot of people must have lost their asses with cryptopia. First the big hack, and now they just shut down for good. Hate to see anyone lose their investments, but Cryptopia was a seriously risky website to use. It's UI was amateur at best. Coding and security features were suspect, which proved very true.

Also, there were a lot of shitcoins that I think were only listed on Cryptopia, so those are probably going away for good now. That's a good thing. We need some consolidation in this game.

 

[Metatrons Cube]

there were a lot of shitcoins

The purest of the pure shitcoins.

 

[whynotmakeit]

https://www.grantthornton.co.nz/update-for-cryptopia-account-holders-20-august-2019/

Update for Cryptopia account holders 20 August 2019
21 Aug 2019
We have made good progress towards securing and preserving Cryptopia crypto-asset holdings for the benefit of those entitled to them. Below is an outline of the progress we have made since our last update on 3 July 2019.

Securing assets

We now have possession of Cryptopia data that was stored by a third-party data centre in the United States, and since the last update have been successful in accessing that data. This is a very pleasing step towards determining customer holdings, as the data contained the only records of Cryptopia’s customer holdings and certain crypto-assets were only stored on these servers.

As mentioned previously, we are now moving the crypto-assets which we have taken possession of, into a “safe non-hacked environment”. We are doing this as a precaution as the source of the January 2019 hack has not yet been determined.

The process was commenced by Cryptopia prior to Liquidation and is necessary to ensure that the data does not corrupt crypto-assets and other data which were not subject to the hack.

We also continue to work with the New Zealand Police and other authorities internationally in respect of the work they are doing to determine the source of the January hack.

Determining customer holdings

We appreciate that customers are wondering why it is taking so long for us to determine customer holdings. There are two main reasons for the time and complexity of the process:

1. Customers did not have individual wallets and it is impossible to determine individual ownership using just the keys in the wallets.
   While Cryptopia held details of customer holdings and reported these on the Exchange, the crypto-assets themselves were pooled (co-mingled) in coin wallets. As a centralised exchange, users' trades would occur in the exchange's internal ledger without confirmation on the blockchain.
2. No detailed reconciliation process between the customer databases and the crypto-assets held in the wallets has ever been completed.
   To determine each customer’s holdings we must undertake a manual process to determine what is held in the pooled wallets and then reconcile the information with that held in the customer database. We are hopeful this process will show us the holdings of individual account holders. This process is well underway but will still take some time to complete. We are working to reconcile the accounts of over 900,000 customers, many holding multiple crypto-assets, millions of transactions and over 400 different crypto-assets). These must be reconciled one-by-one.

Hacked assets

We are still determining how we can, or if we can, recover crypto-assets that were hacked in January 2019. This is a complex situation with cooperation needed from third parties.

What happens next

While our reconciliation process is progressing well, we still require direction from the New Zealand Courts before we can return crypto-assets to customers. The information outlining the legal process included in the last communication are still current and is below.

We continue to liaise with our legal advisors as to the legal status of crypto-assets, the legal relationship between Cryptopia and its customers and to determine how crypto-assets could be returned to customers. However, due to the January hack, this is a complex and time-consuming process. For example, an Exchange that has been hacked cannot simply be reopened. We have certain legal requirements and obligations both in New Zealand and internationally that liquidators must meet, such as Anti Money Laundering/Know Your Client (AML/KYC) requirements when considering any repayment or return of assets.

The KYC process cannot be avoided, it is a legal requirement in New Zealand, and prior to returning crypto-assets we will correspond with customers as to how this process will be completed. Please note, customers who have previously completed the KYC process with Cryptopia will still need to go through the process set by us.

Where to go for updates

We appreciate you want to be advised regarding our progress on the Cryptopia liquidation. We will continue to update you as further information comes to hand.