The Tokyo-based company said Thursday in a statement that it has “discovered unauthorized access to some of the portfolios of digital currencies operated by Liquid.”
According to the London-based company Elliptic, which helps detect stolen digital coins, “just over $ 97 million (€ 83 million) in digital coins was received in accounts identified by Liquid as belonging to the thief.” In a text posted to her blog, Elliptic said its investigators are “helping Liquid track the stolen funds.”
The attack follows last week’s attack in which a pirate stole $ 600 million worth of digital coins from the decentralized financial platform Poly Network, after which he gradually returned the money, claiming that he committed theft only to demonstrate a security breach.
Liquid clarified that it has temporarily suspended the withdrawal of digital coins to assess the impact of the attack.
The popularity of digital currencies has skyrocketed in recent years, despite their volatility and concerns about their environmental impact.
Bitcoin, Ethereum and other digital currencies use a technology called blockchain (blockchain) that records every transaction.
Thieves looking to hijack digital coins often transfer funds to multiple accounts at breakneck speed – sometimes hundreds of thousands of transactions – in search of evidence.
However, industry players have improved their ability to identify and block stolen digital coins. For example, Liquid indicated that the $ 16.3 million equivalent of Ethereum was frozen “thanks to the help of the crypto community and other trading exchanges.”
