After A Technical Glitch, Customer Tries to Steal Bitcoins worth $20 Trillion

A system mistake at a cryptocurrency exchange in Japan led a user to try to steal a large sum of Bitcoin.

The Zaif exchange, operated by Tech Bureau Corp., based in the city of Osaka, experienced a short error last week which helped traders to make crypto purchases for free! This is according to Reuters.

As customers realised the technical error, some of them stepped in to take advantage of the glitch that lasted almost half an hour. One of the customers was too greedy and attempted to make off with 2,200 trillion yen ($20 trillion), according to the well-respected newspaper, Asahi Shimbun. The person then tried to sell his loot all at once!

According to Tech Bureau Corp., this happened a week ago, on the February 16^th, 2018. The exchange realised that seven customers obtained cryptocurrencies while paying nothing for them.

The firm later rescinded the transactions and rectified the errors thus restoring the users’ balances before the glitch, Asahi reported. However, it is rumoured that the rectification is still being discussed with one of the seven users who tried to move the freely obtained Bitcoins away from the Zaif platform.

On the other hand, one customer tried to remarket the Bitcoins he stole. However, the huge sum of digital currency he was offering quickly attracted attention, according to Asahi newspaper.

A Tech Bureau official reportedly apologized for the error and said the company would take measures to halt such issues from happening again.

The news comes at a time when the country’s exchanges are already vulnerable to attack after the hack last month of Coincheck’s exchange. Japan’s finance governing body dubbed the Financial Services Agency, was tasked by the government to look into a number of unlicensed exchanges on 16^th February to make sure their levels of security are top class.

And yesterday, according a news report, a group of virtual currency exchanges are said to be coming together to form a new self-regulatory body to help protect the industry, this after the Coincheck hack.