Ever since the Cryptopia trading platform got hacked, users have been wondering when things will improve. That question is very difficult to answer right now. The investigation is still ongoing. Even so, it seems some of the stolen funds were drained as late as the day prior to the investigation. Additionally, some money went missing in the first days of the investigation as well.
Cryptopia Hack is More Worrisome Than Anticipated
It is never good to learn a cryptocurrency exchange gets hacked. In most cases, money will be stolen. This is bad news for users of said trading platform. Either their balances are empty or reduced significantly. Recuperating the funds through normal or legal means has been nigh impossible for exchanges over the years. To date, it remains uncertain if Cryptopia will fare any better in this regard.
What is even more worrisome is a recent report by Elementus. The company claims some of the funds stolen from Cryptopia went missing the day prior to the company launching its official investigation. This seems to confirm the culprits had access tot he platform for some time. Moreover, it seems they weren’t too bothered about being discovered either. That is a rather gutsy approach, but the story grows even more troublesome.
Further research confirms some funds were stolen even when the exchange investigated the breach. For two days after the news broke, money was still transferred out of Cryptopia. Considering how all activity was halted at that point, the reason for those funds transfers remains unclear. It is likely this will fuel claims regarding the company pulling an exit scam. To date, those claims have not been proven in the slightest.
How anyone from outside the company would have been able to drain funds at that time, remains unclear. This also means the total losses sustained by the exchange and its users are higher than initially assumed. Elementus claims up to $25m may have been stolen by the hackers, compared to the $13m reported several days ago. That would be quite catastrophic for any major company to overcome, let alone a smaller exchange like Cryptopia.
To make matters even worse, some users were complaining about Cryptopia funds issues since December. Local news sources claim at least three individuals confirmed their wallets were not operating properly and funds could not be withdrawn. It appeared a lawsuit would be filed against the exchange in early 2019, yet the hack made sure that didn’t happen as of yet.
For the time being, there is still no word on when users will be able to access their funds once again. The investigation is still ongoing at this point, albeit no further progress has been made, by the look of things. For all exchange users, the wait seems far from over at this point. The main question now becomes whether or not this hack is legit, or is the exchange’s owners decided to pull the plug. Only time will tell which of the two plausible scenarios is the correct one.
