Cryptopia Cryptocurrency Platform Services and Development

[Winstar78]

You will not take anything "with legal or force"...

Mtgox users were finally about to take their refund and now a random company did a billion dollar claim that will probably stop everything again...

according to the police declaration (no more money stolen etc.), i don't believe that honestly. If that's not true, the whole elementus analysis is wrong, so those are not hackers wallets, so we don't have idea of what have been stolen and how much. It can even be better than we think. But, I don't think so.
If the loss was <5M$ I think they had already reopened.

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[Timelord2067]

The police has already refuted that claim.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/110287959/police-dispute-claims-more-cryptocurrency-taken-from-christchurch-company-cryptopia

Police dispute claims more cryptocurrency taken from Christchurch company Cryptopia

Blockchain analysis company Elementus' CEO Max Galka has written a blog post claiming another $260,000 worth of Ethereum (a type of cryptocurrency) has been transferred from about 17,000 Cryptopia wallets (like a bank account for digital currency) since police began investigating. The transfers allegedly began about 1am on Tuesday.

Detective Inspector Greg Murton, of Canterbury police, said it was "not correct" that more currency had been transferred without authorisation.

there has been no official refuting from the New Zealand Police - https://www.police.govt.nz/news/search-results/cryptopia - Last satatement from NZ Police was on the 22nd of January 2019.

Funny how only a couple of days ago xtraelv was debunking stuff.co.nz

Nothing in the media has been confirmed either way. The Stuff website has been factually incorrect on a number of occasions.

Prior speculation will have no influence on the outcome. The results of the police investigation will establish the facts.

Now he's relying on their same website to back up his assertion.

[adamvp]

~

Here there is a list of coin stolen  in the Cryptopia exchange hack:
 https://github.com/elementus-io/cryptopia-hack/blob/master/README.md
Not every coins was stolen (at least for now); but the list was last updated 29th while I can see some post about "leaked funds" from 30th January and after

~

I've been keeping a tally via this link: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5097916.msg49253290#msg49253290 of the various Crypto coins and tokens being stolen.  Any updates of these figures (verifiable) would be appreciated.

Thank you for the answers Adamvp and Timelord2067! What is going on with this exchange?? The funds are draining from the wallets even after the police sealed everything? They blocked access to regular users, but they left it open for robbers?

Thank you again for informations, I will try to be of help in your thread Timelord2067.

I am afraid hacker could steal private keys, not only got access to the wallets, so now it would be hard to stop this proceder - maybe only way would be give access to the rightfull owners (us) prior hacker steal rest of our money - but it seems quite impossible due to policy investigation

[xtraelv]

there has been no official refuting from the New Zealand Police - https://www.police.govt.nz/news/search-results/cryptopia - Last satatement from NZ Police was on the 22nd of January 2019.

Not all police communication is via their website.

When an article quotes a specific police officer it is safe to assume that they said it - otherwise it could be considered defamatory or false publication.

Detective Inspector Greg Murton, of Canterbury police, said it was "not correct" that more currency had been transferred without authorisation.

Funny how only a couple of days ago xtraelv was debunking stuff.co.nz

Stuff has reported numerous things that are plain stupid.

Most custodial exchanges hold users’ assets in cold wallets, which cannot be easily accessed. Smaller sites, like Cryptopia, may not be able to afford the same protection, making them targets for hackers.

Since when are cold wallets expensive ?
1

Police have now stormed the office of a Christchurch cryptocurrency trader after millions of dollars worth of currency appears to have disappeared in a security breach.

Apparently Police storms buildings when you call them.
2

"Some of the exchanges in New Zealand deliberately won't hold cryptocurrencies on behalf of people because they just become a target for hackers."

Show me a peer to peer centralized exchange that doesn't hold cryptocurrency on behalf of people.
3

Their main expert they keep quoting Associate Professor Alex Sims is a associate professor of law. Some of her reported assertions about crypto technology have not been accurate or out of context.

Either she does not have the technical insight, Stuff has been reporting her comments incorrectly or quoted the comments out of context..

Now he's relying on their same website to back up his assertion.

They quoted Detective Inspector Greg Murton, of Canterbury police.  Who is known to be in charge of operation crypto.

My personal opinion is that Stuff has been on a fishing expedition.  Because they don't have a clue they make false assertions in the hope that they get a response from someone who corrects them.

[Winstar78]

I am afraid hacker could steal private keys, not only got access to the wallets, so now it would be hard to stop this proceder - maybe only way would be give access to the rightfull owners (us) prior hacker steal rest of our money - but it seems quite impossible due to policy investigation

I don't think every user has his own private wallets. From what I have seen, when I deposited BTC on my deposit address, they were soon moved elsewhere.

in addition, as we have no private keys, there is not much more we can do compared to cryptopia staff.

[adamvp]

You misunderstood me.
I have on mind that I assume that private keys have cryptopia and (maybe encryted??) hacker.
And this one will be first who can access funds first (owners - not likely due to policy investigation) or hackers (when he decrypt stolen private keys?)

Anyway it is another big lesson - never trust centralised exchange - better support DEXes!

[Timelord2067]

Archived for future reference: http://archive.fo/U2t1E#selection-7247.0-7323.137

Funny how only a couple of days ago xtraelv was debunking stuff.co.nz

Stuff has reported numerous things that are plain stupid.

Most custodial exchanges hold users’ assets in cold wallets, which cannot be easily accessed. Smaller sites, like Cryptopia, may not be able to afford the same protection, making them targets for hackers.

Since when are cold wallets expensive ?

Police have now stormed the office of a Christchurch cryptocurrency trader after millions of dollars worth of currency appears to have disappeared in a security breach.

Apparently Police storms buildings when you call them.

"Some of the exchanges in New Zealand deliberately won't hold cryptocurrencies on behalf of people because they just become a target for hackers."

Show me a peer to peer centralized exchange that doesn't hold cryptocurrency on behalf of people.

Their main expert they keep quoting Associate Professor Alex Sims is a associate professor of law. Some of her reported assertions about crypto technology have not been accurate or out of context.

Either she does not have the technical insight, Stuff has been reporting her comments incorrectly or quoted the comments out of context..[/s]

Your quotes imply I said them...

I did not.

If you are quoting someone else, please add the website to your post.

Your questions appear to be directed at someone else - perhaps you should direct your anger at that person, not me.

[Winstar78]

I don't want to spread FUD and sadness, but I was thinking...

Think at the owner of an exchange that has been hacked, therefore has totally lost users' trust. He has (?) million of dollars on cold wallets and he perfectly knows that when will reopen, ppl will run to withdraw EVERYTHING and go trade elsewhere. He will face very hard months, in addition in a bear market that has already killed some exchanges. If you were him, what would you do?  

[tutorialevideo]

I don't want to spread FUD and sadness, but I was thinking...

Think at the owner of an exchange that has been hacked, therefore has totally lost users' trust. He has (?) million of dollars on cold wallets and he perfectly knows that when will reopen, ppl will run to withdraw EVERYTHING and go trade elsewhere. He will face very hard months, in addition in a bear market that has already killed some exchanges. If you were him, what would you do?  

Same

[xtraelv]

Archived for future reference: http://archive.fo/U2t1E#selection-7247.0-7323.137

Funny how only a couple of days ago xtraelv was debunking stuff.co.nz

Stuff has reported numerous things that are plain stupid.

Most custodial exchanges hold users’ assets in cold wallets, which cannot be easily accessed. Smaller sites, like Cryptopia, may not be able to afford the same protection, making them targets for hackers.

Since when are cold wallets expensive ?

Police have now stormed the office of a Christchurch cryptocurrency trader after millions of dollars worth of currency appears to have disappeared in a security breach.

Apparently Police storms buildings when you call them.

"Some of the exchanges in New Zealand deliberately won't hold cryptocurrencies on behalf of people because they just become a target for hackers."

Show me a peer to peer centralized exchange that doesn't hold cryptocurrency on behalf of people.

Their main expert they keep quoting Associate Professor Alex Sims is a associate professor of law. Some of her reported assertions about crypto technology have not been accurate or out of context.

Either she does not have the technical insight, Stuff has been reporting her comments incorrectly or quoted the comments out of context..[/s]

Your quotes imply I said them...

I did not.

If you are quoting someone else, please add the website to your post.

Your questions appear to be directed at someone else - perhaps you should direct your anger at that person, not me.

By removing the formatting you are misquoting me. Your archive shows the formatting.

It is clear that stuff.co.nz said those things and not you. My response is directed at the website that you are quoting and the expert they are quoting.

There is no anger involved. Just frustration because I'm keen to understand the facts rather than reading fiction.

Stuff.co.nz (as they often do) have removed some of the quotes from their news articles (so it is pointless linking t them)  since but third party sites are still quoting them.

[Timelord2067]

I don't want to spread FUD and sadness, but I was thinking...

Think at the owner of an exchange that has been hacked, therefore has totally lost users' trust. He has (?) million of dollars on cold wallets and he perfectly knows that when will reopen, ppl will run to withdraw EVERYTHING and go trade elsewhere. He will face very hard months, in addition in a bear market that has already killed some exchanges. If you were him, what would you do?  

When Cryptopia announced they were going to "allow" people to withdraw a portion of their holdings after they suffered 100+ 51% attacks and froze the accounts for multiple months I suggested on my Twitter Account that people withdraw all their funds on Cryptopia as they (Cryptopia) were effectively trading while insolvent.

With multiple class actions being flagged against Cryptopia it stands to reason a liquidator would be called in to ensure creditors were paid out first followed by depositors a distant last place.

Anyone who predicts Cryptopia will somehow reopen in February 2019 doesn't understand the magnitude of what is going on. (feel free to remind me in just 22 days time)


@xtraelv Your screen shot again implies I said those things. I did not.  Please quote your source.

[Winstar78]

I don't want to spread FUD and sadness, but I was thinking...

Think at the owner of an exchange that has been hacked, therefore has totally lost users' trust. He has (?) million of dollars on cold wallets and he perfectly knows that when will reopen, ppl will run to withdraw EVERYTHING and go trade elsewhere. He will face very hard months, in addition in a bear market that has already killed some exchanges. If you were him, what would you do?  

When Cryptopia announced they were going to "allow" people to withdraw a portion of their holdings after they suffered 100+ 51% attacks and froze the accounts for multiple months I suggested on my Twitter Account that people withdraw all their funds on Cryptopia as they (Cryptopia) were effectively trading while insolvent.

With multiple class actions being flagged against Cryptopia it stands to reason a liquidator would be called in to ensure creditors were paid out first followed by depositors a distant last place.

Anyone who predicts Cryptopia will somehow reopen in February 2019 doesn't understand the magnitude of what is going on. (feel free to remind me in just 22 days time)


@xtraelv Your screen shot again implies I said those things. I did not.  Please quote your source.

unfortunately I did not read your twitter post so I did not reduce my cryptopia exposition.

if cryptopia will bankrupt, no money for us. AND, your words make me think the hack as an excuse more probable. Remember, bear market is killing exchanges. Or better: they simply don't have so much convenience in continuing business besides doing an exit scam. Probably I am mad in continuing to have 100% of my funds on different exchanges.

[sluppy]

I don't want to spread FUD and sadness, but I was thinking...

Think at the owner of an exchange that has been hacked, therefore has totally lost users' trust. He has (?) million of dollars on cold wallets and he perfectly knows that when will reopen, ppl will run to withdraw EVERYTHING and go trade elsewhere. He will face very hard months, in addition in a bear market that has already killed some exchanges. If you were him, what would you do?  

When Cryptopia announced they were going to "allow" people to withdraw a portion of their holdings after they suffered 100+ 51% attacks and froze the accounts for multiple months I suggested on my Twitter Account that people withdraw all their funds on Cryptopia as they (Cryptopia) were effectively trading while insolvent.

With multiple class actions being flagged against Cryptopia it stands to reason a liquidator would be called in to ensure creditors were paid out first followed by depositors a distant last place.

Anyone who predicts Cryptopia will somehow reopen in February 2019 doesn't understand the magnitude of what is going on. (feel free to remind me in just 22 days time)


@xtraelv Your screen shot again implies I said those things. I did not.  Please quote your source.

unfortunately I did not read your twitter post so I did not reduce my cryptopia exposition.

if cryptopia will bankrupt, no money for us. AND, your words make me think the hack as an excuse more probable. Remember, bear market is killing exchanges. Or better: they simply don't have so much convenience in continuing business besides doing an exit scam. Probably I am mad in continuing to have 100% of my funds on different exchanges.

Even if they go bankrupt they will have to return the coins that where not stolen to the people they belong to .. It depends on how much of an asshole they want to be  if they can reopen to let us withdrawl what is OURS and then go bankrupt some of us would be ok and get our coins back.
If it just goes into bankruptcy without doing that then we will have to wait forever to get even the funds that where not stolen back I hope it doesn't come to that.

[Winstar78]

in bitgrail case, the withdrawals were reopen for a couple of hours then suddenly closed again by the italian court, who declared bankrupcy months later, so also who had only no coin stolen (btc instead of nano) will have to wait forever. I think this is the worst solution for all.

[xtraelv]

https://www.police.govt.nz/news/release/police-continue-make-progress-cryptocurrency-investigation

Police continue to make progress in cryptocurrency investigation
Thursday, 7 February 2019 - 3:22pm
Canterbury
Please attribute to Detective Inspector Greg Murton:

The Police investigation into the Cryptopia hack and theft of cryptocurrency is progressing well and advancing on several fronts.

The focus is on identifying those behind this offending and retrieving the stolen cryptocurrency.

This is a complex investigation involving the theft of cryptocurrency in an unregulated environment.

The stolen cryptocurrency is being actively tracked by Police and specialists worldwide due to the nature of the cryptocurrency blockchains being publicly available.

Excellent progress is being made in the investigation and we are working with Cryptopia management plus current and former employees who have been providing valuable assistance.

We are working closely with our international partners and cybercrime experts to continue the investigation.

Cryptopia’s managers are on site at their Christchurch address and Police are expected to finish at the premises by the end of next week (Friday 15 February).

This investigation is expected to take a considerable amount of time to resolve due to the complexity of the cyber environment.

[Timelord2067]

https://www.police.govt.nz/news/release/police-continue-make-progress-cryptocurrency-investigation

and nothing denying that a second lot of funds were stolen...

Police continue to make progress in cryptocurrency investigation
Thursday, 7 February 2019 - 3:22pm
Canterbury

Please attribute to Detective Inspector Greg Murton:

The Police investigation into the Cryptopia hack and theft of cryptocurrency is progressing well and advancing on several fronts.

The focus is on identifying those behind this offending and retrieving the stolen cryptocurrency.

This is a complex investigation involving the theft of cryptocurrency in an unregulated environment.

The stolen cryptocurrency is being actively tracked by Police and specialists worldwide due to the nature of the cryptocurrency blockchains being publicly available.

Excellent progress is being made in the investigation and we are working with Cryptopia management plus current and former employees who have been providing valuable assistance.

We are working closely with our international partners and cybercrime experts to continue the investigation.

Cryptopia’s managers are on site at their Christchurch address and Police are expected to finish at the premises by the end of next week (Friday 15 February).

This investigation is expected to take a considerable amount of time to resolve due to the complexity of the cyber environment.

ENDS

Issued by Police Media Centre

in bitgrail case, the withdrawals were reopen for a couple of hours then suddenly closed again by the italian court, who declared bankrupcy months later, so also who had only no coin stolen (btc instead of nano) will have to wait forever. I think this is the worst solution for all.

At best next week solicitors for the various group legal actions that have been proposed will serve Cryptopia's Owners with papers freezing assets.  At worst, Cryptopia will file for insolvancy.

Will be interesting to read if Cryptopia will do the "we were hacked, and first come, first served to recover your funds" like they did during the 100+ 51% attacks last year.

Definitely not over yet.


Police skills in doubt over Cryptopia probe into missing $23m

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/110387805/cryptopia-director-says-technicians-are-helping-police-track-stolen-23m / (Archive)

Chris Hutching16:34, Feb 05 2019

An expert in corporate law is questioning whether police have the skills to resolve the $23 million theft from Christchurch-based Cryptopia.

Auckland University associate professor of commercial law, Alex Sims, said information about the investigation had not been handled well and regulatory authorities were "struggling" to deal with cyber theft.

"No one seems to have a clue what's going on. But this hasn't come out of the blue. There has been a lot of dialogue in recent years about the security of cryptocurrency and where to store the digital wallets.

"Cryptocurrency is a legitimate business. It's not a scam. But our regulators are really struggling compared with the US, Japan and European countries which have set up secure custodial services," Sims said.

Cryptopia had held investors' digital wallets, when they should have been held by the investors or with a safe custodial service, and any money kept in trust by the exchange, she said.

 Sims said cryptocurrency and the underlying blockchain technology was here to stay.

"It would be like someone in 1900 saying we should outlaw cars because someone got run over. If you outlawed New Zealand cryptocurrency exchanges people will just use overseas exchanges."

 She made the comment as Cryptopia's sole Christchurch-based director Pete Dawson apologised for his silence because of the risk to the police investigation.

"Our team is giving police technical assistance and their advice to is maintain radio silence in case we inadvertently say something that might interrupt their investigation," Dawson said.

Dawson said the overseas reports had misinterpreted further transfers of some of the stolen cryptocurrencies, which can be traced through different trading exchanges.

Other overseas reports said police had said Cryptopia could be operating again this month, but an official police spokesperson said there had not been any indication of when it might re-start business.

A New York-based analyst, Max Galka of Elementus, said the thieves been busy liquidating the stolen tokens by converting them into other cryptocurrencies via an international exchange called Etherdelta.

Another Christchurch exchange called BitPrime recently assured stakeholders them it did not hold or manage customer funds.

 "Holding customer funds increases the risk, which can turn out disastrously," BitPrime chief executive Ross Carter-Brown said.

"Our own cryptocurrency reserves are held by an institutional custodian in cold storage, with US$100 million worth of insurance coverage.

"If you use a centralised exchange, ensure you withdraw all of your funds to your own wallets as soon as possible. If the coins are not in a wallet that you control the private keys for, in effect, then they're not really your coins."

Another Kiwi exchange called Vimba gave similar advice.

"When you keep crypto on an exchange you don't actually have ownership of those coins. We highly recommend you to move it into a personal wallet that you control."

Ross Carter-Brown said investors would be unable to claim all tax losses losses because until their digital coins were cashed up they could be classed as income.

 He has also written about what may happen when cryptocurrency investors die.

"Traditionally, gaining access to a bank account is relatively straightforward after a family member passes. In the case of Bitcoin, it is much more complicated as there are wallets, passphrases and security boundaries.

"If your family isn't aware of the existence of your crypto holdings, it will be lost forever. Keep your wallet passphrase somewhere secure like a deposit box or a locked safe and provide instructions on how to get to it in your will."

[g1itch]

For those who likes to count a coins in hypothetical cryptopia wallets:
https://chainz.cryptoid.info/ltc/wallet.dws?5163877.htm - what chainz.cryptoid.info recognizes as cryptopia LTC wallet.

This feature is very experimental, inaccurate and not updated in real-time

(:

[Timelord2067]

For those who likes to count a coins in hypothetical cryptopia wallets:
https://chainz.cryptoid.info/ltc/wallet.dws?5163877.htm - what chainz.cryptoid.info recognizes as cryptopia LTC wallet.

This feature is very experimental, inaccurate and not updated in real-time

(:

That might be a cold LTC wallet as this wallet: https://bitinfocharts.com/litecoin/address/Lcwr6zgXEMtPyrqeTxWTfYwUU11AuaoM1w is purported to be Cryptopia's Hot Wallet for LTC. (See also LINK)

[fmz89]

I don't want to spread FUD and sadness, but I was thinking...

Think at the owner of an exchange that has been hacked, therefore has totally lost users' trust. He has (?) million of dollars on cold wallets and he perfectly knows that when will reopen, ppl will run to withdraw EVERYTHING and go trade elsewhere. He will face very hard months, in addition in a bear market that has already killed some exchanges. If you were him, what would you do?  

bitfinex hacked on 2016 20% fund lost, and they repay with their token,  like poliniex has been hacked couple years ago, if they can repay the lost funds even it tooks months to complete. ppl still trading on their services

[KriptoGuruTR]

This is NOT a hack, this is a scam.

I am not mad about topia because of the hack. Hacking is a reality in cyberspace. What makes me mad is the aftermath. Topia slackers use police as a shield. This is unacceptable.

Let the police do their job BUT do your own investigation and inform us. Hiding behind the police and ignoring lots of customers is not the way to go...