Coincheck

Coincheck
Founded Tokyo, Japan (August 2014 (2014-08))
Headquarters Tokyo, Japan
Area served Japan and some other countries
Founder(s) Koichiro Wada
Yusuke Otsuka
Products Bitcoin exchange and wallet service
Website Official website

Coincheck is a bitcoin wallet and exchange service headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, founded by Koichiro Wada and Yusuke Otsuka. It operates exchanges between bitcoin/ether and fiat currencies in Japan, and bitcoin transactions and storage in some countries worldwide.[1][2][3] In April 2018, Coincheck was acquired by Monex Group for 3.6 billion yen.[4]

History

Coincheck started in August 2014 and is operated by Coincheck, inc. (previously ResuPress, inc) (founded in 2012). As of August 2016, the exchange had over $160 million transactions per month.[5][6][7] There were then more than 2,200 merchants using their bitcoin payment solution, just in Japan.[8] Coincheck is a member of JBA (Japan Blockchain Association)[9] and is actively helping to build the Japanese bitcoin community's usage standards with the government.

In March 2016, the entertainment company DMM.com with a user-base of more than 19 million decided to use Coincheck's bitcoin payment processing solution.[10] Coincheck also partnered with SEKAI to support Chinese, Hong Kong, and Taiwan investors to buy Japanese real estate with bitcoin.[11][12] The company also supports the buying and selling of ether,[13] DAO,[14][15] LISK,[16][17] and Ethereum Classic.[18]

2018 hacking incident

In January 2018, Coincheck was hacked and approximately 500 million NEM tokens ($530 million) were stolen.[19][20] The currency was transferred through a total of nineteen accounts, one of which was found to have no connection with the hacker.[21]

The hack led two of Japan's crypto-currency trade groups to merge into a new self-regulatory organization.[22] The Financial Services Agency took administrative action by ordering Coincheck to improve its security practices,[23] but did not order the exchange to shut down out of a concern for the protection of its users.[24] Coincheck initially announced that it may not be able to compensate all users affected by the hack,[25] but then announced that it would repay all 260,000 users affected in Japanese yen using its own capital.[26]

The hack only involved NEM. Because the security breach was caused by the lack of strong security measures of Coincheck, the NEM development team refused to conduct a hard fork. Instead NEM is creating an automated tagging system. This automated system will follow the money and tag any account that receives tainted money.[22]

References

  1. ↑ "大塚雄介 | ブロックチェーンでどんな未来をつくれるかを、ずっと考えている « INNOVATION INSIGHTS". INNOVATION INSIGHTS (in Japanese). Retrieved 2016-03-22.
  2. ↑ Sugimoto, Jun. "ビットコイントレーダー向けのダッシュボード「coincheck tradeview」、レジュプレスが提供". TechCrunch Japan. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
  3. ↑ "Japan's Coincheck Launches Consumer-Focused Bitcoin Exchange". CoinDesk. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
  4. ↑ Wilson, Thomas. "Japan's Monex to buy Coincheck for $34 million, eyes future IPO". U.S. Retrieved 2018-04-06.
  5. ↑ Suberg, William. "Coincheck: Japan 'Treating BTC as Currency' - Bitcoin News". Bitcoin News. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
  6. ↑ "Japanese Exchange Doing 3 Billion Yen a Month » Brave New Coin". bravenewcoin.com. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
  7. ↑ "Interview with Kaga Kawabata of Coincheck- Bitcoin Exchange Japan". www.bitconnect.co. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
  8. ↑ "ビットコイン決済の導入社数が1000社を突破--「coincheck」のレジュプレス". CNET Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved 2016-03-22.
  9. ↑ JBA (Japan Blockchain Association)
  10. ↑ Suberg, William. "Japanese Entertainment Giant DMM Accepts Bitcoin - Bitcoin News". Bitcoin News. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
  11. ↑ Okuma, Nozomi. "coincheckが国際間の不動産売買にもビットコイン決済を提供開始". TechCrunch Japan. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
  12. ↑ "马桶盖已经out了，Coincheck教你用比特币在日本买房子_巴比特_比特币新闻资讯_比特币今日价格". www.8btc.com. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
  13. ↑ Suberg, William. "Coincheck Integrates Ether Amid Continued Optimism - Bitcoin News". Bitcoin News. Retrieved 2016-03-22.
  14. ↑ "Coincheck Lets Users Buy The DAO Tokens With JPY". Retrieved 2016-08-10.
  15. ↑ "DAO Makes Its Way Into Japan". Cointelegraph. 1 June 2016.
  16. ↑ "Coincheck Becomes First Japanese Exchange To Support Lisk". Retrieved 2016-08-10.
  17. ↑ "Japanese bitcoin exchange, coincheck add new cryptocurrency, LISK : JFToday" (in Japanese). Retrieved 2016-08-10.
  18. ↑ "New Feature: Buy and sell Ethereum Classic | coincheck". Retrieved 2016-08-10.
  19. ↑ Uranaka, Taiga; Wilson, Thomas (January 28, 2018). "Japan raps Coincheck, orders broader checks after $530 million cryptocurrency theft". Reuters. Retrieved June 5, 2018.
  20. ↑ "£280 million Goes Missing From Japanese Crypto Exchange Coincheck". Gizmodo. 28 January 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  21. ↑ "Cryptocurrency hacked from Coincheck sent to 20 accounts". The Japan News by the Yomiuri Shimbun. 2018-01-31. Retrieved 2018-02-01.
  22. 1 2 "$530 Mln in XEM Stolen From Coincheck Can Be Traced, NEM Team Confirms". Cointelegraph. 26 January 2017.
  23. ↑ "Japan's Financial Regulator Responds To Coincheck US$530M Hack". Coinjournal. 2018-01-29. Retrieved 2018-02-01.
  24. ↑ Kimura, Takuya. "NEM流出事件でコインチェックに業務改善命令、金融庁は「9月までのBSは把握済み」 | TechCrunch Japan". TechCrunch Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved 2018-02-01.
  25. ↑ "Coincheck possibly unable to reimburse customers after theft". Kyodo News+. 2018-01-27. Retrieved 2018-02-01.
  26. ↑ Nakamura, Yuji (2018-01-27). "Coincheck to Repay Users Who Lost Money in $400 Million Hack". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-02-01.
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