Bitcoin Security Scrutinized After $534 Million Stolen

Japanese bitcoin exchange, Coincheck, is inspecting its cryptocurrency exchanges following $534 million theft.

• By Sydny Shepard
• Jan 30, 2018

Japan's financial regulator says it will inspect all cryptocurrency exchanges in the country if it needs to following the theft of $534 million worth of bitcoin by hackers.

Fifty-eight billion yen was taken from Coincheck, a bitcoin exchange platform, last week. The incident is believed to be the largest case of cryptocurrency theft there has been since the inception of bitcoin in 2009.

Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) has told Coincheck to come up with measures that will prevent such an attack from happening again, but it has yet to confirm whether or not the exchange has sufficient funds to reimburse its customers.

The FSA will decide at a later date if they will move forward with examining all the cryptocurrency exchanges in the country to ensure a similar attack doesn't happen with another bitcoin exchange company.

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency and a worldwide payment system that is touted to be the first decentralized digital currency, as the system works without a central bank or single administrator.