Japanese Crypto Exchange DMM Bitcoin to Shut Down Operations

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin will cease operations by March 2025 following a hack that resulted in losses exceeding $300 million.

This decision follows months of recovery efforts that ultimately failed to restore the platform’s viability.

DMM Bitcoin to Transfer All Assets to SBI VC Trade

According to a report from Nikkei Asia, the exchange also plans to sell all its assets to SBI VC Trade, a trading company owned by the SBI Group.

SBI VC Trade confirmed in a December 2 statement that an agreement had been reached to acquire all assets of DMM Bitcoin as part of its liquidation process. The transfer, expected to conclude by the end of Q1 2025, will include customer accounts and assets held by the exchange. Details on the specific transfer methods and dates will be disclosed in future announcements.

As part of the transition, the company plans to expand its services by offering 14 crypto spot trading options currently available on DMM Bitcoin’s platform. The two firms will continue discussing the asset and account transfer process.

DMM Bitcoin was hacked on May 31, 2024, resulting in the theft of 4,502.9 BTC, worth approximately $305 million at the time. The exchange confirmed the breach, announcing that it had taken steps to prevent further unauthorized withdrawals by suspending all spot purchase transactions.

Further, it assured customers it would reimburse lost funds by acquiring an equivalent amount of Bitcoin with backing from its associated companies. To that end, DMM Bitcoin secured a 5 billion yen loan in June and outlined plans to raise an additional 50 billion yen to meet its obligations.

Failed Recovery Efforts

Despite the recovery efforts, ongoing service restrictions and increased challenges forced the exchange to abandon its plans and ultimately decide to shut down its operations.

In July, the attackers, believed to be the infamous Lazarus Group, were tracked laundering more than $35 million in stolen funds through Huione Guarantee, an online marketplace that has reportedly become a hub for illicit activities.

PeckShieldAlert also reported that an additional 500 BTC had been transferred across multiple wallets in August. However, all attempts to recover the stolen funds have been unsuccessful.

The DMM Bitcoin hack ranks as Japan’s second-largest digital asset breach, following the $534 million Coincheck attack in 2018.

Coincheck’s incident was mainly attributed to the exchange’s inadequate security practices. Most of the stolen tokens were stored in a single online hot wallet secured by just one private key rather than in offline cold storage or secure multi-signature wallets, as recommended by their issuer.