NZ Police Allows Cryptopia to Resume Operation, but Site Still Offline

Cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia has received official permission by New Zealand police to resume its operations, according to a February 13 New Zealand Herald report.

According to detective inspector Greg Murton, the High Tech Crime Group of the NZ police department has finished the primary aspect of its work at the Cryptopia offices and has handed over control of the premises back to the exchange’s management.

“We have finished the main part of the work required by the High Tech Crime Group at Cryptopia's business premises, although HTCG staff remain there finishing up aspects of their work," Greg Murton told the publication.

“Cryptopia management have full access to their facilities and business premises and the Police investigation is not preventing their business from getting up and running again,” he added.

Cryptopia, however, did not resume its operations as its website is still offline, as of press time.

According to the New Zealand Herald, the founders of the exchange did not respond to queries about when or whether the exchange will resume operations. The company’s social media has also been silent since January.

Murton, however, denied disclosing the details of the investigations and did not confirm wether the investigation team is going to press charges against the exchange. He also declined to reveal whether the police found out the exact amount of cryptocurrency stolen by the hackers.

The Hack

On January 15, Cryptopia announced that a “significant” amount of Cryptocurrencies were stolen from the exchange, saying that the New Zealand police is investigating the matter.

The exchange did not reveal the exact amount involved in the heist. However, many Blockchain analysis firms started to come up with estimates of the stolen amount. According to an estimation of Elementus, $16 million worth of Ethereum and ERC-20 tokens were stolen, which were being dumped on other exchanges to cash out.

Another report claimed that the hackers continued to siphon $175,000 worth Ethereum tokens days after the breach was reported.

A week ago, the NZ police, in an official statement, updated that they are making “ excellent progress” in the investigation before pointing out that the complexity of the case might force the department “to take a considerable amount of time to resolve.”

Cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia has received official permission by New Zealand police to resume its operations, according to a February 13 New Zealand Herald report.

“Cryptopia management have full access to their facilities and business premises and the Police investigation is not preventing their business from getting up and running again,” he added.

Cryptopia, however, did not resume its operations as its website is still offline, as of press time.