As well as the large number of account holders, 37 creditors, 90 shareholders and New Zealand’s tax agency are also seeking a good portion of the company’s remaining assets. „This marks the launch of the Cryptopia claims portal to start the process of returning account holders‘ property,“ the liquidator’s post reads. Cryptopia was one of the most popular crypto exchanges back in the day before it faced a massive security breach in 2019. The platform was hacked, and a considerable amount of digital assets was stolen from the wallets of the platform users. The case of Cryptopia liquidation has been going on for a couple of years now and in this article, we will look at how you can get back your lost assets from the platform and learn what happened to the exchange. The current plan by Grant Thorton is to return assets to account holders by the end of 2024.
Cryptopia Update Released
- As of a December 2022 update, 84.5% of users had participated in the Cryptopia claims process in some way.
- The liquidation process is ongoing, with Grant Thornton currently in the claim registration stage, urging affected users to file their claims to recover their assets.
- These third parties might use the name „Cryptopia“ in their email address, subject line, or in headings of their communications to account holders.
- This ruling also gave Moore and Ruscoe permission to begin the process of reconciling assets lost by Cryptopia.
- Aside from the obvious risks of cryptocurrency trading, such as the high volatility in Bitcoin and altcoin prices, there are other risks you need to be aware of when keeping your assets on the blockchain.
It was the company’s job to secure the assets on behalf of all the stakeholders and confirm the amount that the company owed to each one of its customers. On May 15th, 2019, the Cryptopia team announced that the company was going into liquidation, which meant it was going to sell all the assets to dissolve and finally close the company. Crytopia is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchange based in Christchurch, New Zealand, launched by Rob Dawson and Adam Clark in 2014. Just like Binance or Coinbase, Cryptopia used to be a cryptocurrency exchange platform.
In May 2019 it was announced that the Christchurch based exchange had gone into liquidation. An investigative report by a local media outlet Stuff suggested that there were personal conflicts and tensions between the Cryptopia founding members and executive teams. The liquidator of the defunct cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia has told former customers they can now begin making claims for the return of their funds.
What’s Cryptopia’s Legal Status?
This led to a lockdown and a physical investigation of the company’s headquarters the next day. While there are still a large number of Cryptopia users yet to be accounted for, the Grant Thornton customer support says it has engaged with 93,700 claimants. David Ian Ruscoe and Malcolm Russell Moore, of Grant Thornton New Zealand Limited, were appointed jointly as liquidators of Cryptopia Limited in May 2019.
We also believe that these third parties communications maybe based on the continued misuse of confidential information released by the High Court in 2020. The official methods of communication from the liquidators to Cryptopia account holders are outlined at the end of this update. We understand third parties have contacted account holders offering to purchase their Cryptopia entitlements in exchange for an obscure digital currency. This agreement requires the assignment or transfer of account holders Cryptopia owed holdings to that third party. After this primary distribution of cryptocurrencies that are of sufficient value, there may be an additional top-up distribution to account holders, allowing them to receive up to 100% of their holdings. If this supplementary distribution takes place it should occur before the middle of 2025.
The claims portal has been designed to verify each account holder’s account ownership and identity, and it is very important this sensitive process is protected. Cryptopia’s terms and conditions record that account holders may not assign their rights or obligations. The liquidators consider that the terms and conditions remain in force, and any assignment or transfer of an account holder’s entitlements is not binding or cryptopia withdrawal enforceable against Cryptopia. We issued proceedings against these third parties to prevent them from continuing to mislead or confuse account holders. In response the New Zealand Courts has granted injunctions prohibiting these parties from continuing to represent themselves using Cryptopia’s name.
About the Cryptopia Exchange
Such links don’t imply our endorsement, and we aren’t liable for the content, products, or services of these third-party entities. While we strive for accuracy, the content on our Website, including articles, reviews, and opinions, is for informational purposes and may not always be up-to-date or error-free. If you are unsure whether a communication is an official communication from us, please raise a helpdesk ticket in Zendesk. Following this collection, we intend to make an interim distribution to those qualifying and registered Bitcoin and Dogecoin holders within the next quarter.
Users of Hacked Exchange Cryptopia Can Now Make Claims to Recover Funds
However, it was later found out that the hacks were still going on even after the police had been involved. On the contrary, the technology has been rock solid in keeping an immutable ledger by recording every single transaction ever made. However, especially at the early stages of the crypto hype, the pitfalls of blockchain technology weren’t discovered yet, and measures against cybercrime weren’t regularly implemented. We recommend that any account holders who have entered into a sale and purchase or assignment agreement with any of these third parties seek independent legal advice.
In December 2020, Grant Thornton opened the Cryptopia claims portal to start the process of returning funds to the Cryptopia account holders. The liquidator company draws a roadmap for the claims process, consisting of claim registration, identity verification, claim acceptance, and finally, asset transfer. The process involves reaching out to account holders to register their claims and creating a dedicated customer support portal on Zendesk to assist account holders with their asset transfer process. You can follow the updates regarding the process from Grant Thornton’s page on Cryptopia liquidation. More than four years on from the beginning of the Cryptopia exchange liquidation process, liquidators Grant Thornton have yet to return any account funds to Cryptopia’s customers. The liquidation process which began in May 2019, following the all-encompassing exchange hack of January 2019, remains ongoing.
The long, drawn-out process of returning customer funds continues for Cryptopia liquidators Grant Thornton – with the latest liquidators report being released on 12th June. Stolen crypto that may be recovered could go back to account holders who contributed to „hack recovery costs“ as well as users who had their funds stolen. If you are unsure whether a communication is an official communication from us, please raise a helpdesk ticket in Zendesk at the above link. This Zendesk portal is separate from the claims portal and can be accessed by any account holder, provided they register and click the “Sign Up” button on the page. The hack saw over 70,000 wallets compromised and over US$23 million in Ethereum (ETH) and ERC-20 tokens stolen. A second hack occurred on January 28th, where an additional US$284,000 from 17,000 wallets was captured.
As of a December 2022 update, 84.5% of users had participated in the Cryptopia claims process in some way. This, however, includes any users who may have only opened the email or clicked on the link to the portal and are yet to fully engage in registering their claims. In April 2020, a ruling by the High Court in Christchurch said customers were entitled to the assets they held in Cryptopia accounts, determining those assets are classed as „property.“ Around 960,000 former Cryptopia users are being informed, and those registering are being asked to confirm some account details to ensure only verified users of the exchange make claims. As previously reported, Grant Thornton said the steps are necessary to ensure the repatriation of assets complies with New Zealand law. Currently, the liquidation process is in its second stage of claim acceptance, and the liquidator company is working on collecting enough data from the holders.