Zaif crypto exchange completes transfer to buyer Fisco

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Zaif has completed the handover of its business to Fisco Cryptocurrency Exchange, just a matter of weeks after the company was hacked resulting in losses in excess of $60 million.

The development means those still waiting to get money from the failed exchange will now be entitled to do so from the new owners Fisco Cryptocurrency Exchange, following their high profile bailout of the firm, according to a CoinTelegraph Japan report.

The handover was arranged in a bid to save Zaif after the firm was unable to compensate clients affected by the hack. As a result, many have been left out of pocket with little hope of recovering any of their lost funds until now.

Compensation proceedings are expected to begin this November, as the buyers look to address the losses suffered by those trading through the exchange at the time of the hack.

The completion of the sale and transfer of the Zaif business from parent company Tech Bureau concludes an embarrassing episode for the exchange, which was financially crippled in the wake of the hack.

For the time being, both deposits and withdrawals from the Zaif exchange remain in lockdown, with investors unable to get their hands on their money.

Following the transfer, Tech Bureau said it plans to dissolve the company and move away from its interests in the cryptocurrency sector. It declared, “We will abolish the registration of our virtual currency exchange and plan to dissolve.”

The hack was blamed on inadequate security at Zaif, as well as a lack of effective regulatory structures in Japan at the time. At the time of the hack, Zaif was the 37th largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world by volume.

Following the hack of the Zaif exchange, and the high profile hack of exchange Coincheck which saw some $534 million lost to hackers, Japanese regulators have taken significant steps to tighten the compliance burden on new and existing market players.

Nevertheless, these cases show the risks faced by cryptocurrency exchanges who fail to take adequate security measures to deter crypto scammers and hackers.