The Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin has revealed plans to compensate users for losses as a result of the theft of 4502.9 BTC at the end of May.
According to the statement, the platform intends to return assets to customers by purchasing an equivalent amount of bitcoins with the financial support of DMM Group companies.
On June 3, the exchange has already raised borrowed funds for this purpose in the amount of 5 billion yen (~$32 million).
A further capital increase of 48 billion yen (~$307.5 million) is scheduled for June 7.
DMM Bitcoin then expects to receive a subordinated loan of 2 billion yen (~$12.8 million).
The total amount of funds raised in this case will reach approximately $352 million.
After that, the exchange "will start purchasing an equivalent amount of bitcoins, trying not to affect the market."
At the time of writing, the price of the first cryptocurrency is around the $70,700 mark (CoinGecko). According to current quotes, the platform needs a little more than $320 million to acquire lost assets.
The DMM Bitcoin team has "deeply" apologized for the situation to the affected customers and said that the investigation into the incident is ongoing. She promised to promptly inform users about the situation as details become available.
According to Elliptic, the DMM Bitcoin exploit was "the eighth largest cryptocurrency theft of all time and the largest since the $477 million FTX hack in November 2022."
In 2018, hackers withdrew more than $500 million in NEM (XEM) cryptocurrency from another Japanese exchange, Coincheck. At that time, it was one of the largest crypto platforms in the country.
According to CoinGecko, over the past day, the normalized trading volume on Coincheck amounted to $89 million (66th place). For comparison, the leading Binance has reached almost $9.9 billion.
Recall that in April 2024, crypto projects collectively lost about $25.7 million from hacking and fraud. This was a record low amount for a month since 2021, CertiK noted.