'North Korean Hacking Victim' Japanese Crypto Exchange Begins Liquidation

The Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin, which suffered damages amounting to 500 billion KRW due to North Korean hacking, is commencing liquidation procedures.

On the 26th, according to Cointelegraph, the Japanese cryptocurrency financial firm SBI VC Trade announced on the previous day (25th) that it had signed a contract to acquire all assets of DMM Bitcoin. The contract also includes the acquisition of all customer accounts of DMM Bitcoin. The acquisition process will be completed by March next year.

Previously, in May, DMM Bitcoin had 320 million USD (approximately 470 billion KRW) worth of Bitcoin (BTC) stolen due to a server hack. The FBI and the Japanese National Police Agency recently announced that the North Korean hacker group 'Trader Traitor (TT)' was involved in the incident. TT is part of the North Korean Reconnaissance General Bureau's hacker group 'Lazarus'.

Meanwhile, damages from cryptocurrency hacking are increasing every year. According to the blockchain security firm Hacken, the damages from cryptocurrency hacking this year amount to 694 million USD (approximately 1 trillion 20 billion KRW), more than doubling from last year.