[NEWS] DMM Bitcoin to go out of business, transfers customer assets to SBI VC Trade

It has been revealed that domestic cryptocurrency (virtual currency) exchange DMM Bitcoin has decided to go out of business. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported on the 2nd. DMM Bitcoin In May of this year, Bitcoin (BTC) worth about 48.2 billion yen was illegally leaked from DMM Bitcoin.

According to the report, customer assets will be transferred to SBI VC Trade around March next year. DMM Bitcoin's customer assets will amount to about 96.2 billion yen as of the end of the fiscal year ending March 2024, and SBI VC Trade plans to pay about 3 to 5 billion yen in connection with the asset transfer.

SBI VC Trade is looking to further expand its business scale by acquiring DMM Bitcoin's customers. It is believed that several domestic cryptocurrency exchanges and others have been working to acquire DMM Bitcoin.

DMM Bitcoin announced the transfer of customer assets to SBI VC Trade on the same day. As for the reason for deciding to transfer customer assets to the exchange, the company explained that "after considering various factors, such as convenience, we concluded a basic agreement with SBI VC Trade as the transferee." It also stated that the investigation into the unauthorized outflow is still ongoing.

The amount of Bitcoin stolen from DMM Bitcoin is 4,502.9 BTC. This is the largest Bitcoin leak incident in Japan. At the time of writing, it is worth about 66.2 billion yen.

After the Bitcoin leak, DMM Bitcoin raised 55 billion yen through borrowing and capital increases from group companies. It quickly raised the equivalent amount of Bitcoin that was stolen. However, there was no prospect of resuming service after that, and in September, the Financial Services Agency issued an order to improve business practices.

The Financial Services Agency pointed out that DMM Bitcoin had flaws in its cryptocurrency management system, saying that "a system has not been established to properly and reliably carry out cryptocurrency exchange business." It then instructed the company to strengthen its system risk management system and to establish a system to properly respond to the risk of cryptocurrency leaks.

In this situation, DMM Bitcoin decided that it would be difficult to turn its management around and went out of business.

Reference: Nikkei , Announcement
Image: Shutterstock

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