Japan lost over $540M in cryptocurrency hacks in first half of 2018

Hackers have swiped over $540 million (60 billion Yen) worth of cryptocurrency from Japanese netizens over the first six months of 2018.

On September 20, Japan’s National Police Agency revealed the number of cryptocurrency-related reported incidents rose to 158 – triple the amount of incidents over the same period last year, local outlet The Asahi Shimbun reports.

For the record, most of the stolen funds can be traced back to the breach of cryptocurrency exchange desk Coincheck, which lost $516 million (58 billion Yen) in a hack back in January.

Meanwhile, illegitimate accessing of individual cryptocurrency accounts and wallets makes up the remaining $22 million (2.5 billion Yen).

The reports claim more than half of all accidents reported were the result of unsuitable account security. Many cryptocurrency users do not use unique passwords and IDs for each of their online accounts.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom for the Japanese digital asset market.

Following the substantial Coincheck hack, customers became more aware of the need for heightened online security when dealing with cryptocurrencies.

Of the 158 report cases between January and June, 120 were reported in the first three months of the year.

Figures show a decrease in cryptocurrency hacks due to improved awareness about account security from users.

It seems it will be some time until Japan rids itself fully of these scams.

Published September 20, 2018 — 08:47 UTC

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