[Cryptopia] ONLINE ARTICLES related to hack &theft of funds 2022 (non discussion

[guigui371]

Hey Timelord,

A message I posted here : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1669443.msg53600153#msg53600153

This is what one of my friend in Christchurch has written on the FB group we co-admin.
We are both in NZ, in Christchurch (headquarter of Cryptopia).

He does have connections with many crypto enthusiasts in NZ and I totally believe him when he told me that this was an accurate statement from a former employee of cryptopia. 

He identity of the whistleblower will not be revealed, no need to ask.

Today marks the 1 Year Anniversary of the Cryptopia Hack that is one of the biggest Heists in New Zealand History.

There is alot more to this story that is yet to be investigated. An ex employee has approached me anonymously and asked me to post this summary of what is happening or more to the point NOT happening with the investigation.

Makes for some very interesting reading. NZ Police seem to be out of their depth on this one.
____________________________________________________________________
Today marks the one year anniversary of Cryptopia Exchange being hacked. Not a cool anniversary to celebrate, but definitely a reason to take a moment to reflect on the progress the NZ Police have made over this time....

Approximately $25 million dollars was stolen in an "alleged" hack from the exchange.
The Managers of Cryptopia at the time alerted NZ police who immediately took control of the Cryptopia offices with the permission of those Managers, and then refused to allow Cryptopia staff in (aside from those Managers). This allowed the hackers to continue to drain hot wallets with nobody qualified on the inside to stop this.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/…/cryptopia-breach-highlights-gaps-…
Once allowed back into the offices, Cryptopia begun their own investigation and found a wealth of information to aid the NZ Police in finding the hackers. This included;

- proof the hack originated in Christchurch
- Employees who were logged by security cameras and door access to have been in the office shortly before the hack begun, who had no business being in the office at that time and have never been questioned about why. (nb - said employees quickly left the company and are openly anti-cryptopia)
- the employee whose computer was used to access the hack.
(nb - not necessarily saying this employee was responsible, just that it was their log in and user details used in the hack, they have some serious questions to answer about who had access to their laptop considering they were close friends with ex-staff who are openly anti-cryptopia)

After providing the NZ Police this information, Cryptopia expected some possible arrests or at the very least, extensive questioning to happen imminently. Then the Mosque shootings happened. The NZ Police announced they were putting the Cryptopia investigation on hold. Totally fair enough! That was some serious shit in our little city. Except once that investigation seemed somewhat over, the NZ Police admitted that they still hadn't even looked at the evidence they had been given.
Returning after the hack, one of the founders uncovered evidence of embezzlement from a shareholder who had been running the company with the very same managers mentioned above who "discovered" the "alleged" hack, since at least January 2018. He has been very open about this, going to the NZ Police, the Serious Fraud Office, Grant Thorton and then the Media. Still nobody seems to care.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/…/cryptopia-boss-blames-former-shar…
So when are the NZ Police going to look at their evidence? THIS IS THE BIGGEST HEIST IN NEW ZEALAND HISTORY. It would seem if you want to get rich illegally, all you have to do is commit a White-collar crime, because nobody seems to care if you do that! Please note, I say "alleged" because I am a believer that based on the evidence this was an inside job. As an ex-employee of Cryptopia, some would say I am bias to this story or that story, so please note, I am not posting to promote conspiracy theories etc, just that I totally advocate for the police, the SFO, the IRD, the Liquidators, and ANYONE who has the power, to look at the evidence. That is the only way the truth is going to come out, conspiracy or not.

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[Timelord2067]

Hey Timelord,

A message I posted here : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1669443.msg53600153#msg53600153

Interesting if true - all I can say for the moment I guess is "watch this space".

[digit]

Website: https://eng.ambcrypto.com/cryptopia-case-rescheduled-at-christchurch-high-court/
Title: Cryptopia case rescheduled at Christchurch High Court
Byline and Date:  Rakshitha Narasimhan, January 17, 2020
Archive link: https://archive.ph/wip/Xy11K

[Timelord2067]

Website: https://eng.ambcrypto.com/cryptopia-case-rescheduled-at-christchurch-high-court/
Title: Cryptopia case rescheduled at Christchurch High Court
Byline and Date:  Rakshitha Narasimhan, January 17, 2020
Archive link: https://archive.ph/wip/Xy11K

Thanks for the link & website details - There are a number of other posts on that site over the lst few months that contain some useful information.

I'll endeavour to posts links shortly.

[guigui371]

A new good article here :

Stuff : Sabotage or theft? Inside the $24m Cryptopia heist

Cryptopia could have been one of New Zealand's most successful hi-tech start-ups. Its end was caused by one of the country's biggest heists worth $24 million. SAM SHERWOOD and MARTIN VAN BEYNEN follow the twisted path to the company's collapse......

archive : https://archive.ph/j3Miu

[guigui371]

Hey guys,
No one has put a link to the latest documents (early march) that are post high court trial

(they are at the bottom of this link : https://www.grantthornton.co.nz/update-for-cryptopia-account-holders-10-february-2020/)



https://www.grantthornton.co.nz/globalassets/1.-member-firms/new-zealand/pdfs/cryptopia/2020/g.-submission-of-counsel-for-creditors-re-quoine-pte-ltd-v-b2c2-ltd-2-march-2020.pdf


https://www.grantthornton.co.nz/globalassets/1.-member-firms/new-zealand/pdfs/cryptopia/2020/h.-submission-of-counsel-for-account-holders-re-quoine-pte-ltd-v-b2c2-ltd-4-march-2020.pdf


https://www.grantthornton.co.nz/globalassets/1.-member-firms/new-zealand/pdfs/cryptopia/2020/i-.submission-of-counsel-for-the-liquidators-re-quoine-pte-ltd-v-b2c2-ltd-10-march-2020.pdf


Interesting, instead of making their own opinion on the matter (ie cryptopia hack) they are trying to see how it realtes to a "similar" conflict in Singapore between  B2c2 and Quoine  .......
Fucking pathetic,  release the fucking coins, clients / users  are not creditors !

With Covid19, all none urgent trials are on hold.
(my wife works in the Justice precinct)

[HCP]

A "win" for customers?

Website: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/120913953/cryptopia-account-holders-win-battle-over-assets-worth-140m
Title: Cryptopia account holders win battle over assets worth $140m
Byline and Date: Martin van Beynen and Sam Sherwood - 18:33, Apr 08 2020
Archive link: https://archive.vn/IpDZh

[figmentofmyass]

A "win" for customers?

Website: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/120913953/cryptopia-account-holders-win-battle-over-assets-worth-140m
Title: Cryptopia account holders win battle over assets worth $140m
Byline and Date: Martin van Beynen and Sam Sherwood - 18:33, Apr 08 2020
Archive link: https://archive.vn/IpDZh

it seems to be. i'm pleasantly surprised! i would have thought they'd have gone the way of standard bankruptcy proceedings (like mt gox) where account holders are ranked behind other creditors.

under that scheme, account holders would only recover ~1/2 of their funds. they will probably recover closer to 80% or more this way.

[Timelord2067]

A "win" for customers?

Website: https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/120913953/cryptopia-account-holders-win-battle-over-assets-worth-140m
Title: Cryptopia account holders win battle over assets worth $140m
Byline and Date: Martin van Beynen and Sam Sherwood - 18:33, Apr 08 2020
Archive link: https://archive.vn/IpDZh

Thanks for posting the link and keeping us updated while these restrictive travel restrictions are in place.

it seems to be. i'm pleasantly surprised! i would have thought they'd have gone the way of standard bankruptcy proceedings (like mt gox) where account holders are ranked behind other creditors.

under that scheme, account holders would only recover ~1/2 of their funds. they will probably recover closer to 80% or more this way.

Perhaps "Dumb and Dumbererer" (and others) will be left to foot the bill?

Post 5,400

[condoras]

it seems to be. i'm pleasantly surprised! i would have thought they'd have gone the way of standard bankruptcy proceedings (like mt gox) where account holders are ranked behind other creditors.

under that scheme, account holders would only recover ~1/2 of their funds. they will probably recover closer to 80% or more this way.

Most likely because they "understand" that most of the cryptopia creditors are its holders...

Perhaps "Dumb and Dumbererer" (and others) will be left to foot the bill?

Post 5,400

Who knows? Under the current circumstances, it will take much more time to end with this and find out.

[rexxarofmoknathal]

Looks like the creditors are only going to get around half of their money back. Grant Thornton has just received confirmation from the NZ courts that the individual account holders are owed whatever is in their account balance, this wont be weighed up proportionally, customers will simply get back whatever they put in and the creditors will be the only ones to lose out.

It also appears that it was an inside job, since someone seemingly walked in with these keys and then walked out with all the money. The investigation into the source of the breach is still ongoing.

[Timelord2067]

Please note, this is not a discussion thread as the thread title states.

Would you please take any comments concerning Cryptopia to the thread https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1669443.0

Thank you.

[kabit9]

update on 08 April 2020:

[Timelord2067]

Via TheCryproMaster in this thread here.

https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2020/05/06/funds-stolen-cryptopia-transferred-again/

Stolen ETH on the move again.

https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2020/05/06/funds-stolen-cryptopia-transferred-again/

Would be good if there was a bounty on recovered coins, bounty hunters get a good % of funds recovered.

Archive [1a], [1b]

The funds stolen from Cryptopia transferred again

By Alfredo de Candia - 6 May 2020

As reported by Whale Alert, the funds stolen from Cryptopia have been moved. According to reports, over 5700 Ethereum (ETH) funds worth over $1 million have been moved.

About a dozen or so transactions of different amounts, between 450 and 2100 ETH, took place this morning, transferring the various funds to several additional addresses precisely in an attempt to lose the trail or prevent them from being tracked again.

In fact, the main purpose of moving the funds is to try to transfer them to new addresses, unmarked, in a quick way by exploiting some flaws of some exchanges in order to liquidate them.

It should be remembered that about 30 thousand ETH were stolen from Cryptopia and some of the funds were found in different accounts and platforms, while some were frozen and then returned to the exchange users.

In the meantime, a court ruling has established that those funds belong to the users who had an open wallet on Cryptopia, with the result that they cannot be used by the liquidator to pay any pending fees, but must be returned to their rightful owners.

Even if there are thefts and attacks in this sector, thanks to the blockchain it is possible to trace every movement, and depending on the speed, it is possible to communicate the addresses to the various platforms so the latter, as soon as they trace funds from those reported addresses, will freeze them and block them immediately. However, the criminals who are responsible for the theft usually send a few funds at a time to test if the address is already on the blacklist, and if it is not then they continue to launder these funds.

Only in a few cases, all the funds have been recovered thanks to agreements made with the criminals who perpetrated the attack, this was the case of the incident involving dForce that managed to recover as much as 25 million dollars.

 In conclusion, always remember to never leave funds on exchanges or centralized platforms and check whether any protocols have passed the certifications and audits of their smart contracts, such as the services offered by Quantstamp.

Update 13/June/2020

Via https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2745535

https://twitter.com/cryptopia_nz/status/1271192418709155840?s=12

https://www.grantthornton.co.nz/globalassets/1.-member-firms/new-zealand/pdfs/third-liquidators-report_cryptopia-12-06-2020.pdf

Ouch looks like it will be a while

Website: https://www.grantthornton.co.nz/globalassets/1.-member-firms/new-zealand/pdfs/third-liquidators-report_cryptopia-12-06-2020.pdf
Title: Liquidators’ ThirdReport on the State of Affairs of CryptopiaLimited (in Liquidation) Company number: 239290112June 2020
Byline and Date: David Ruscoe Liquidator Cryptopia Limited (in Liquidation) Dated: 12 June 2020
Archive link: [1a], [1b]

[Timelord2067]

Bump - previous post updated with yesterday's announcement (funds on hand down another <$3M NZ$)

[Timelord2067]

Website: https://www.grantthornton.co.nz/Update-for-Cryptopia-account-holders-18-September-2020/
Title: Update for Cryptopia account holders 18 September 2020
Byline and Date: 18 Sep 2020
Archive link: [1a], [1b]

Since the release of our Third report in June 2020, we have made further progress in the Liquidation and provide an update with an additional set of frequently asked questions.

Our main focus has been working to continue the development of a claims process that achieves the following objectives:
Process     Details
Claims registration    1. Allows the registration of account holders details and to make claims for their account balances
AML/CFT verification    2. Verifies account holders' identities to the necessary AML/CFT standard
Asset transfer    3. Instigates asset transfers to account holders


We expect the claims registration process to be open by the end of the year.

Our next statutory report is due for release December 2020 but we will update stakeholders further in the lead up to the launch of the claims process prior to this.
Frequently Asked Questions:

    How do I get my coins back?

As outlined above once we have finalised the claims process the Liquidators will be in touch with coin holders via official channels around registering their claim. Coin holders will need to verify their account and identity through an online claims portal. Until the claims process has been completed the Liquidators cannot begin the repatriation process. Coins will only be returned to those who complete all of the above processes.

    When can I get my coins back?

The expectation is the claims process will open by the end of the year with the AML to follow this. Once these two phases are complete, we expect the repatriation process to follow. It is important to note that:

    We have to establish a claims process and cannot just open up the Cryptopia exchange: the exchange was hacked prior to the liquidation. With the source of the hack still not identified we cannot open up an exchange that has been compromised
    We have to complete the reconciliation process: this includes re-establishing coins in a non-hacked environment and then reconciling coin balances to the customer database. With over 900,000 active customers and up to 900 different coins, this is not a quick process
    We will likely need to go back to court to seek further directions in respect of the distribution process including AML requirements. As liquidators, we need to follow the laws in New Zealand and cannot just return coins to account holders without completing appropriate KYC procedures

    Do I need to register my claim?

You will need to register your claim, however, at this point, we are not ready to receive account holder claims. We have recently agreed on a claims portal which we hope to launch by the end of 2020. We will advise account holders via registered Cryptopia email and our official channels when we are ready to receive account holder claims.

    What does the Court decision mean?

The Court decision means that Cryptocurrency is ‘property’ and coins were held on express trust by Cryptopia. A separate trust exists for each type of cryptocurrency and they are beneficially owned by the account holders so will not form part of the pool of assets available to unsecured creditors.

The next steps now will be completing the reconciliation process to determine total customer holdings and finalising a distribution model for returning coins to beneficial owners. This process is being completed alongside the claims and KYC process mentioned above.

    The Court has ruled that you are holding my coins, I demand that you return these to me immediately.

Whilst the Court ruling confirms that Cryptocurrencies were held on express trust, the process of returning these coins cannot begin immediately due to the incomplete reconciliation process, AML concerns, and various other legal guidance needed on numerous matters. The Liquidator has a duty to all beneficiaries of these trusts and so repatriation cannot begin until the reconciliation process is complete and the Liquidators are ready for claims from all beneficiaries.

    Are you selling my coins to fund the Liquidation?

The Liquidation is currently being funded with company assets. Allocation of costs of returning account holders assets will be subject to further direction from the Court.

To clarify the account holders’ assets are not recorded in the Receipts and Payments statement, found in the Liquidator’s reports.

    Will the return of my coins be in crypto or fiat?

The Court’s directions indicate repatriation of customer holdings is to be in crypto where possible. We will work through this and seek further directions as required.

    Will KYC be needed?

The KYC process cannot be avoided, as it is a legal requirement in New Zealand. Before returning crypto-assets we will correspond with customers within this claims process. Please note, customers who have previously completed the KYC process with Cryptopia will still need to go through the process set by us.

    Why have you not replied to my email?

There were over 960,000 active account holders of Cryptopia. We cannot reply to individual email queries due to the sheer number of emails we receive and the time it would take to reply to all account holders’ queries. Please refer to the Grant Thornton New Zealand and Cryptopia websites and their respective social media channels for updates.

    Can you tell me my account balance or provide a transaction report for taxation purposes?

At this stage, we are not able to confirm the underlying transactions or trade history that make up customer balances and therefore cannot communicate account balances to account holders at this time.

    Can anyone else tell me my account balance?

We are the only ones with access to the customer database at the date of Liquidation. No one outside of the Liquidators has access to the customer database, nor should they be communicating any information about balances to account holders.

Anyone outside of the official communication channels pertaining to have access to this information or offering to tell account holders what balances are in their accounts is doing so without the Liquidators authority. Please be wary of any such approaches and note that any communications relating to the Liquidation will come from the official channels such as the Grant Thornton website, or the Grant Thornton and Cryptopia twitter accounts.

    Will Cryptopia ask me for further funds?

No, we will not ask you to deposit any further crypto-assets or confirm account holders' details at this stage. The only direct point of contact will be made via the email address you used when you registered on the Cryptopia exchange.

Please take care to ensure that any communications asking you to deposit further funds are not scams.

    Why can’t you simply re-open the exchange and allow account holders to withdraw their coins?

We cannot re-open the exchange to return account holders’ coins. The exchange was hacked and the source of the hack is still unknown and is still being investigated by the New Zealand Police. Because of the hack, we have had to re-secure all of the coins in a non-hacked environment prior to undertaking the reconciliation process (which had never been completed before). This is not a quick process but is necessary to ensure that coins are secure and that a further hack does not occur.

Because no detailed reconciliation process between the customer database and the crypto assets held in the exchange’s wallets was ever undertaken, we cannot confirm that account holders' coin balances will match the actual holdings for each coin.

    Will trading on Cryptopia resume?

No. The Company is in Liquidation so will not be re-opening for trading. Please do not deposit any funds into historic deposit addresses.

    My crypto was not affected by the January hack, why can’t I withdraw them?

Because no detailed reconciliation process between the customer database and the crypto assets held in the exchange’s wallets was ever undertaken, we cannot confirm that account holders' coin balances will match the actual holdings for each coin.

Via @guigui371 LINK

[condoras]

~snip~

A lot of people who have funds there were sure that they wouldn't get them back but it seems that hope, still dies last.
IMO that's very good news, even if we need to wait +1.5 years...

Thanks Timelord2067 for keep tracking this.

[Excimer]

Sorry, when will the money be returned? I had some money there, but they are has closed

[Timelord2067]

Sorry, when will the money be returned? I had some money there, but they are has closed

This is not a discussion thread - it is a reference thread to cover the various online articles concerning Cryptopia - please follow the links in the OP for the main discussion thread. (Or, you could try reading some of these posts and your question *might* be answered)

[condoras]

Website: https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-com-exchange-reveals-role-in-the-cryptopia-rescue-group/
Title: Bitcoin.com Exchange Reveals Role in the Cryptopia Rescue Group
Byline and Date: 31 Oct 2020
Archive link: -

This is the site of the "Cryptopia Rescue" consortium: https://www.cryptopiarescue.com/