Bitcoin Thieves Get Arrested For Stealing BTC From CoinExchange

The Japanese police arrested two Bitcoin thieves who stole BTC coins from the small market operator CoinExhcange as we are reading further in the latest bitcoin news.

Yuto Onitsuka reportedly stole about 78 million yen in Bitcoins which is equivalent to $710,000 as per the reports and the theft was possible for the former employee Onitsuka who knew the access the credentials to the two wallets of CoinExchange and the small market operator closed in 2019 after ending up in losses due to the bear market. The theft happened in October 2018 which was one year before the exchange shut down when Bitcoin had stabilized about $6,400 and the stolen coins were tracked to foreign and domestic exchanges.

The Bitcoin thieves get arrested but Onitsuka and Sasaki reportedly never met each other and communicated only through crypto-related bulletin boards while Sasaki used the login credentials to order BTC coin withdrawals from one of the exchange’s hot wallets. The statements made by Onitsuka suggest that the actions mainly precipitated the bankruptcy of the CoinExchange and the bitcoin withdrawals harmed the failing exchange operator while Onitsuka wanted to only add further protest against the company’s management. The sources say that Onitsuka wanted to bankrupt the company for disagreements and internal struggle.

The theft of 100 BTC in 2018 was quite small in comparison to other exchange heists and the involvement of the employee suggests that thefts are sometimes much easier to conduct explained with the human factor and have access to hot or cold wallets. The exchange was one of the smaller market altcoins and didn’t have a process of internal control to stop further abuses. Only one set of the credentials was enough to order a withdrawal and no internal controls were there where Bitcoins went. The theft left a lot of traces and ended up in Sasaki’s bank account. The funds were used for travel and personal expenses.

Japan has been in the center of large coin heists that mostly affected the Coincheck exchange and some other markets affected include Remixpoint and Zaif. The trend increased in 2019 when more exchange thefts were noted across the world. The exchanges in Japan decreased their activity and slowed down during the peak of the bull market where the investors made up to 60 percent of the Bitcoin trading volume.