Cryptopia, the exchange that was hacked in January of this year, has abruptly begun liquidation proceedings in a move that has caught users completely off guard. The exchange, popular during the 2017 bull run because of its collection of alt coins, had over $16 million worth of tokens stolen when it was hacked at the start of the year, but the team looked to be getting the exchange fully operational again. However, an announcement on Wednesday by professional services firm Grant Thornton New Zealand that they had begun liquidation proceedings on behalf of the exchange confirmed otherwise.
Cryptopia Limited appoints Grant Thornton as Liquidators – https://t.co/A35rq1Jls3
— Cryptopia Exchange (@Cryptopia_NZ) May 15, 2019
“Severe Impact” of Hack Noted
In the announcement, Grant Thornton stated that the “highly publicised hack of Cryptopia’s exchange in January 2019 had a severe impact on the company’s trade” and that, despite efforts by the team and the management, the company was not likely to meet its financial obligations.
The liquidation process will involve “a thorough investigation, working with several different stakeholders including management and shareholders” with all activities halted during that time, and likely now forever. They also warn customers that the investigation will take “months rather than weeks”, leaving anyone who had tokens on the exchange stuck and merely hoping that their funds will find a way back to them.
News Gets Mixed Response
Responses to the announcement were varied. Some were angry that their funds were now stuck, some suggest the whole play was an exit scam, while others didn’t seem to understand what liquidation entails:
you doing Great Cryptopia and looking forward soon everything site works swift and smoothly. appreciate & Big Support your hard work and dedication Thank you.
— Ramesh Mech (@RameshMech16) May 15, 2019
In many ways it’s unfortunate that Cryptopia managed to survive almost the entire bear market only to fall at the final hurdle just before the market picked up, but crypto has shown before that it doesn’t care for sentiment. Cryptopia will be missed by some, but to many it served a single purpose that, outside of silly season when alts pump hundreds of percent, left it largely useless.
