Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange hacked, losing $530M: NHK

Posting this as a top level comment as well (probably a better idea):<p>The coins stolen are XEM (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nem.io&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nem.io&#x2F;</a>) not Bitcoin. They&#x27;re currently tracking the stolen coins to ensure they are not sold.<p>Preliminary evidence suggests that it was a private key stolen and not a network problem.<p>Disclaimer: Am somewhat associated with the team, and I hold a small amount of XEM.<p>Feel free to ask questions.

They are tainting the stolen coins to avoid them to be sold. What’s the point of having a decentralized currency if a centralized entity make the decisions anyway at the end of day?

The 0x protocol will allow for decentralized exchanges, so hacks like this would be a thing of the past if it gains adoption.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;0xproject.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;0xproject.com&#x2F;</a>

I don&#x27;t understand why news like this doesn&#x27;t have that huge of an impact of bitcoin&#x27;s price.. Bitcoin seems to be hovering around 11k~ as I&#x27;m writing this. It&#x27;s been at the same price it seems for the past couple of days...

Wow, didn&#x27;t know Mt. Gox lost 850k BTC, thats 9B USD at the current price. Are these coins traced? Were they quietly sold or are hackers sitting on billions in BTC?

A lot of people take for granted of a bank guarantees from govt. In a bank you are protected if the bank burns down or gets robbed empty. Unlike the Wild West here

As someone who knows very little about the blockchain, I was wondering if the Bitcoins are &quot;known&quot;? Like, they have a hash or something? Can&#x27;t they be then blacklisted from use somehow?<p>I thought the whole point of the blockchain was that all the transactions were all known?

Conclusion: If you keep any cryptocurrency on an exchange or online service that can or is capable of controlling your private keys - MOVE all your cryptos to your own deterministic wallet YESTERDAY!

Ouch.<p>Something like this is incredibly regrettable, and a large amount of presumably novice investors have no doubt burnt their fingers. Yet, incidents like this once again underscore the importance of controlling your private keys. Until you do that, you do not really own your coins.<p>I suppose this also highlights the need for decentralised exchanges.

How often do major banks get hacked and &quot;lose&quot; money?

If only there was some trust built into the system. Then that money could all be recovered.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies remain in technological infancy relative to the absurd amount of investor interest they hold. Hacks of this scale will likely continue to occur for the forseeable future, until exchanges develop and deploy techniques to limit potential lossage to hacks (e.g. minimal networked wallets), and will require several more years to provide a secure track record.<p>In the interim, the convenience of exchange bitcoin storage will continue to come at an increase in risk.

This kind of news is the reason why people should seriously consider buying a hardware crypto wallet if they plan to put significant sums at risk.<p>I&#x27;ve started trading in this space with a modest amount, but as I plan to increase some of my investments I am definitely considering purchasing a wallet.<p>I would sleep better if I knew my coins were not held within the exchange.

When do the people learn? If you hand over the control of your crypto-currency to the central trade authority, it completely ruins the value of crypo-currency.<p>You should rather use traditional nation-backed currency at regulated trade authority.

decentralized exchanges and cross chain atomic swaps are looking really interesting lately