- $33,000 worth of Stakenet (XSN) tokens were moved from the Cryptopia exchange in early February
- The 100,000 tokens were moved from a Cryptopia hot wallet without Stakenet’s knowledge
- The move may have been an accidental transfer by Grant Thornton
$33,000 worth of Stakenet (XSN) tokens were moved from the now defunct Cryptopia exchange earlier this month in a move that has left liquidator Grant Thornton facing tough questions. Grant Thornton took over the exchange to oversee its liquidation following two crippling hacks in 2019 and was supposed to have locked down all the assets. However, 100,000 XSN tokens were somehow moved off Cryptopia on February 1, leaving 4.5 million on the exchange and leading to an investigation into how it occurred.
4.5 Million XSN Tokens Moved to Cold Wallet
News of the unauthorized XSN token move was broken last week by New Zealand-based website Stuff and was confirmed by Stakenet on Saturday:
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Cryptopia update:
We have been monitoring the known XSN addresses at Cryptopia for some time and were able to identify unauthorised movement of funds (100k XSN on 1st Feb). We immediately contacted Grant Thornton (Cryptopia liquidator) to enquire about this and since then,— Stakenet (@XSNofficial) February 20, 2021
Stakenet revealed that they informed Grant Thornton of the token move as soon as they discovered it, with the liquidator moving the remaining 4.5 million XSN tokens into a cold wallet and promising an investigation. The 100,000 tokens were supposed to have been secured by Grant Thornton as part of the payout to creditors and former users, the arduous allocation process for which is underway.
Cryptopia Hack Fallout Still Ongoing
The movement of just 100,000 XSN tokens from the hot wallet is strange given that all 4.5 million would have been just as easy to move and would have been worth some $1.5 million. This raises the possibility that rather than being a hack the transfer was instead an error on the part of Grant Thornton and that the tokens will be returned.
Cryptopia was hacked twice in quick succession in 2019 with some $24 million worth of cryptocurrencies stolen. Very little has been recovered, although a former employee was charged with stealing almost $250,000 worth in November, along with some customer data.
