Over $300 million in bitcoin stolen from Japanese exchange DMM Bitcoin

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin announced on Friday that more than $300 million in bitcoin had been stolen in a breach.

"At approximately 1:26 p.m. on Friday, May 31, 2024, we detected an unauthorized leak of bitcoin from our wallet," said DMM Bitcoin, a subsidiary of DMM Group, according to an English translation of the statement made in Japanese and posted to the company's website.

The exchange said 4,502.9 bitcoin (about $306 million) had been taken. It appeared to promise its clients that it would reimburse customers if necessary.

"Please rest assured that all of your bitcoin deposits will be fully guaranteed, as we will procure the equivalent amount of BTC that was leaked with support from our group companies," it said in its statement.

According to crypto forensics firm Elliptic, if confirmed, this exploit would rank as the “eighth largest crypto theft of all time, and the largest since the $477 million hack suffered by FTX, in November 2022.”

Updated with commentary from Elliptic.