The CoinCheck Hack: The Heist of the Century #shorts

7 Mar 2023 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

0:57

In this YouTube short, The Art Of Crypto recounts the January 2018 Coincheck hack, one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts ever, where over $500 million worth of NEM tokens were stolen from the Japanese exchange’s hot wallet. The speaker explains that the attackers exploited a vulnerability in the exchange’s security system to access the hot wallet, moved the tokens to multiple other exchanges, and cashed them out. While NEM developers built a tracking system that identified and froze some of the illicit accounts, a large portion of the stolen funds remains missing and Coincheck could only return a fraction, leaving many users with heavy losses. The video closes with the security reminder “not your keys, not your coins” and a call to follow for more content.

Chapters

In January of 2018, the world was rocked by one of the biggest hacks in crypto history, the Coincheck hack. Over $500 million worth of NEM tokens were stolen from the Japanese exchange, and until today, the hacking group behind it remains unidentified, although they are believed to have some ties to North Korea, which is unconfirmed information. The hackers were able to exploit a vulnerability in the exchange's security system to gain access to the exchange's hot wallet, which contained the stolen tokens, which got sent to various exchanges after the hack and got cashed out. Following the hack, NEM developers created a tracking system that allowed them to identify the accounts with the stolen funds, which led to the freezing of some accounts. But a significant portion of the stolen funds remains unaccounted for. Coincheck was only able to return a portion of the stolen funds, leaving many users with significant losses. So remember, not your keys, not your coins. Follow for more. Follow for more.