A New Zealand auction house is to sell off Cryptopia office equipment as the defunct exchange searches for any way it can to get money. The former exchange was hacked in 2019 for some $16 million worth of assets, and the asset sale through auctioneers Skylarc is part of the plan by liquidators Grant Thornton to raise funds. Items to be auctioned include computers, TVs, kitchen appliances, furniture, and more.
Symbol of Excess
As an insight into the scale of the Cryptopia operation, the auction includes over 65 laptops, 23 servers, 35 desktop computers, and 12 televisions as part of the 800+ items being auctioned off. If ever there was a sign of the excesses of the recent bull run, then an office inventory like this might just be it. The items are available through TradeMe, a New Zealand-based online auction site, with no reserve on most items, although the money raised will likely only make a small dent in what Cryptopia owes its customers.
Repayment Process Ongoing
Cryptopia announced its closure in May after leading many to assume that they were getting back on their feet following the multiple hack in January. Despite the alleged $16 million loss, Grant Thornton has agreed a repayment of $4.22 million to creditors, with the company finally getting their hands on crucial servers in August that contained customer records, allowing them to begin the arduous process of working out customer token holdings. Grant Thornton said in August that this process would be long and difficult, given that users didn’t have individual wallets on the site, although now former customers have the chance to own a little piece of Cryptopia history buy snapping up a laptop, office chair, or plant pot as a memento of their experience.
