Cryptopia, a New-Zealand based cryptocurrency exchange, has relaunched a “read-only” version of its website on Mar. 5th after a two-month long hiatus.
The exchange closed its doors on Jan. 15th after it discovered it was a victim of a malicious hack that cost the company around $16 million in cryptocurrency assets.
Cryptopia’s “Read-Only” Website Goes Live After Slight Delay
After almost two months of being in “maintenance mode,” New-Zealand based cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia has finally reopened. The company is still not ready to resume business as usual, but it will be resuming user balances to its pre-hacked state.
The company announced the launch of its website in a tweet on Mar. 5th, saying that it will be using the holding balance from Jan. 14th as a baseline for calculating rebates.
Cryptopia said that the company was currently in the final stages of a rebate process for the users that were affected by the Jan. 14th hack. And while the public will have to wait for more details about the matter to be released, the exchange recommended that customers reset both their passwords and two-factor authentication credentials.
Update: The read-only site is now live. The holding balance from the 14th Jan is pre hack and we will be using these holdings as a baseline for calculating rebates moving forwards.
— Cryptopia Exchange (@Cryptopia_NZ) March 5, 2019
Cryptocurrency and tax specialist Campbell Pentney from law firm Bell Gully told Newsroom that users will be able to access their accounts, but no one will be able to transact or withdraw. However, as the website reopened, many users experienced problems when logging in. This created more frustration around the issue, as many users were worried about their funds and Cryptopia’s ability to reimburse them.
Tim Doyle, director of AgBiz Accountants, says some of his clients have been frustrated by being unable to log in to Cryptopia, Newsroom reported. He added that his clients were concerned, as the end of the tax year is becoming closer. Doyle said that there was still uncertainty to what the final outcome for the hacked coins will be.
Investigation Ongoing, Cryptopia Still Silent About Amount of Funds Stolen
According to Doyle, the fact that Cryptopia managed to reopen before March 31st when the tax year ends, will provide certainty for their 2019 tax returns. He also said that it was good news for its users, as they’ll be able to write off any digital assets that were stolen in the hack for tax purposes.
Local reports have shown that the New Zealand Police and High Tech Crimes Unit were working diligently on the investigation and have completed a search of Cryptopia’s offices. However, as stolen cryptocurrency assets rarely get returned, many have questioned Cryptopia’s ability to reimburse its clients.
Back in January, Ran Neuner, the host of CNBC’s CryptoTrader show, questioned Cryptopia’s ability to refund its users given the current state of the market. He said that it could become one of the many smaller exchanges that won’t survive the crypto winter.
The gloom predictions about Cryptopia’s ability to refund its customers were increased by the company’s reluctance to disclose the exact amount of crypto assets stolen in the hack. Initial reports showed more than $16 million worth of cryptocurrency was stolen in the first attack that hit the exchange. Elementus, a New York-based blockchain analytics group, found that $3.57 million of the sum was in ETH, $2.446 million in Dentacoin, while $1.948 million was in Oyster Pearl. The second attack, which happened at the end of January, saw hackers steal an additional $180,000 in various cryptocurrencies.
After being silent for a few days, Cryptopia finally commented on the amount of cryptocurrency stolen, saying that the attacks resulted in the loss of about 9.4 percent of all total funds. As this points to the fact that most of the exchange’s cold wallets were untouched by the hack, many remained optimistic that those affected by the hack will be reimbursed.
