The bear market that the crypto industry is facing has had a lot of adverse effects, with companies shutting down services and laying off staff members in their droves.
Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck seems to be the latest company to feel the brunt of the dire crypto market state, according to reports from Nikkei Asian Review.
A top executive of the firm was quoted by the outlet, saying that the company which has been trying to turn back its fortunes after suffering a major crypto heist in January – has not found it easy. Bitcoin, whose value as of this writing is $3,429, along with the rest of the market, is currently experiencing one of the worst downturns in their prices. The bearish run has also battered the market cap of most cryptocurrencies.
Per the reports, the slide in the value of Bitcoin has soured the efforts of Coincheck to recover its lost fortunes, after a hack led to the loss of 58 billion Yen ($511 million) in cryptocurrency back in January.
Toshihiko Katsuya, President of Coincheck, said on Wednesday:
“We hope to see trading volume rise as we run the exchange in a stable way, but the market is weak. Volatility is high, but transaction activity has not been revitalized.”
In what has been referred to as one of the biggest thefts in the history of cryptocurrency, Coincheck was forced to halt all operations after 523 million NEM coins- which, at the time, were worth approximately $530 million- were stolen on the 26th of January.
According to the company’s representatives, the coins were lifted through a series of unauthorized transactions from a hot wallet that the hackers got access to. The NEM funds were housed in the wallet, and the hackers were able to drain it. After the hack, Coincheck was forced to halt all withdrawals from the site shortly after the breach.
The exchange, however, resumed its services on November 26, 2018, including opening new accounts and trading tokens. Although the company is yet to obtain approval from the Financial Services Agency, Japan’s financial regulator, it operates nonetheless.
As part of the company’s moves to gain lost ground, online broker Monex Group, which purchased the exchange back in April, announced that it would be launching crypto trading in the United States from the first quarter of 2019.
Monex held a press conference in Tokyo, where John Bartleman- President of TradeStation, the U.S. subsidiary of Monex- announced that they are planning to expand their crypto trading offerings to U.S.based customers in Q1 2019.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
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