Japanese Crypto Exchange DMM Bitcoin to Shut Down After $305M Hack

Its accounts and assets will be transferred to SBI VC Trade.

Dec 2, 2024, 7:26 a.m.

Japanese crypto exchange DMM Bitcoin will shut down and transfer its accounts and assets to trading platform SBI VC Trade in March next year, it said in a statement on Dec. 2.

The decision was made after the exchange suffered a hack in May. Hackers siphoned off over 4502.9 bitcoin (BTC), worth nearly $305 million at the time.

DMM Bitcoin had restricted its services such as withdrawals and the acceptance of purchase orders for spot crypto assets since the loss of the funds, but acknowledged that allowing the situation to continue would impair its customers. “We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience caused over such a long period of time,” it said.

Who was behind the theft is not clear – though fingers have been pointed at North Korea’s shadowy cyberhackers the Lazarus Group. Money from the hack also appears to have passed through Huione Guarantee, a Cambodian payments company that has enabled the laundering of billions in illicit funds.

SBI VC Trade said that the company would start handling 14 cryptocurrency new spot trading that are already handled by DMM Bitcoin before the transfer of the assets.