Cryptopia
HackedExchange · born 2014 · ✝ 2019
A hack it never recovered from, plus a fight over who owned the coins.
Cryptopia was a New Zealand cryptocurrency exchange popular for small-cap altcoins. A breach in early 2019 cost it roughly $16M, after which it never recovered and entered liquidation amid a protracted legal battle over whether customers owned their deposited crypto.
- Peak
- ~$16M stolen
- Cause
- Hacked
- Year of death
- 2019
☠️ Cause of death
A security breach drained roughly $16M; the wounded exchange could not regain solvency or trust and was placed into liquidation, with courts left to decide customer ownership.
📓 Lessons left behind
- —A mid-size hack can be terminal without deep reserves.
- —Custodied crypto's legal ownership is murky in insolvency.
- —Liquidation freezes user assets for years.
🌱 The idea that survived
Customer asset segregation
Strengthened the case for legally segregating customer crypto so it isn't pooled into an insolvent estate.
#exchange#custody#insolvency#new-zealand