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48 billion yen in bitcoin cryptocurrency disappears from Japanese exchange
DMM Bitcoin Co., the operator of a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, said Friday that digital assets worth at least 48.2 billion yen ($300 million) have disappeared for an unknown reason.
The Tokyo-based company, controlled by IT major DMM.com LLC, said it detected the anomaly at around 1.26pm the same day and suspended operations such as virtual currency withdrawals and review of claims of new accounts.
The amount of cryptocurrency lost is believed to be the second largest ever recorded in Japan, surpassed only by the 58 billion yen stolen from Tokyo’s Coincheck exchange in a similar incident in 2018.
According to an investigative source, Tokyo police will investigate the case on Friday after receiving an inquiry from DMM Bitcoin.
The company claimed to deal in around 40 types of cryptocurrencies. Its report for the financial year to March 2023 said the number of accounts stood at around 377,000.
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