Hackers steal $305M from DMM Bitcoin crypto exchange

Japanese crypto exchange DMM Bitcoin confirmed on Friday that it had been the victim of a hack resulting in the theft of 4,502.9 bitcoin, or about $305 million. 

According to crypto security firm Elliptic, this is the eighth largest crypto theft in history. 

DMM Bitcoin said it detected “an unauthorized leak of Bitcoin (BTC) from our wallet” on Friday and that it was still investigating and had taken measures to stop further thefts. The crypto exchange said it also “implemented restrictions on the use of some services to ensure additional safety,” according to a machine translation of the company’s official blog post (written in Japanese).

The company also promised that all customers’ Bitcoin deposits “will be fully guaranteed as we will procure the equivalent amount of BTC that was leaked with support from our group companies.”

DMM Bitcoin did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

According to De.Fi, the web3 security firm that tracks crypto thefts and scams, hackers stole around $2 billion in crypto across dozens of cyberattacks and thefts last year. While that is still a gargantuan amount of crypto, the total was the lowest since 2020.