BLOCKCHAIN
BLOCKCHAIN
BLOCKCHAIN
Millions potentially stolen as Asian cryptocurrency exchange CEO disappears
Millions may have been stolen after the chief executive of a little-known Asian cryptocurrency exchange called IDAX disappeared with the keys to the company’s cold wallets.
The origins of the company are cloudy, but the company appears to be operated out of Shanghai. Cryptocurrency exchanges are illegal in China, but the company was registered in both Singapore and Mongolia.
What is known is that CEO Lei Guorong has disappeared, a fact confirmed by IDAX itself. In a statement on Friday, the company said that “IDAX Global CEO have gone missing with unknown cause and IDAX Global staffs were out of touch with IDAX Global CEO.” As a consequence, the company has suspended all deposits and withdrawals.
Suspending withdrawals, while a wise move, may be the result of the company not having access to client funds held in cold wallets, if reports Friday are correct that Guorong took the keys with him when he disappeared.
Exactly how much could have been stolen is pure speculation at this point. While little-known in the West, IDAX can’t be called a small exchange. By volume, the exchange was ranked 12th in the world with $757 million traded over a 24-hour period. At the very least, the amount stolen could be in the low millions of dollars but could be as high as hundreds of millions.
The company’s illegal operation in China and the disappearance of the CEO could be linked. On Nov. 24 IDAX announced that it would no longer provide services for users in China. Given that it was dubious that it was providing services within China to begin with, particularly while registered outside the country, it may have caught the attention of authorities.
Presuming that’s the case, the CEO may have disappeared to avoid being arrested, or he may have actually been arrested and that’s why he’s disappeared. What is clear is that no one, including the company itself, knows where he is.
The news of a potential exit scam at IDAX comes days after $52 million in Ethereum was reported to have been stolen from South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit. The theft at Upbit is suspected to be an inside job.
Image: Idax
A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:
Support our mission to keep content open and free by engaging with theCUBE community. Join theCUBE’s Alumni Trust Network, where technology leaders connect, share intelligence and create opportunities.
- 15M+ viewers of theCUBE videos, powering conversations across AI, cloud, cybersecurity and more
- 11.4k+ theCUBE alumni — Connect with more than 11,400 tech and business leaders shaping the future through a unique trusted-based network
Are you an AWS customer? Support SiliconANGLE financially by buying your AWS services from our Marketplace portal page and links: https://siliconangle.com/aws-marketplace/
About SiliconANGLE Media
SiliconANGLE Media is a recognized leader in digital media innovation, uniting breakthrough technology, strategic insights and real-time audience engagement. As the parent company of SiliconANGLE, theCUBE Network, theCUBE Research, CUBE365, theCUBE AI and theCUBE SuperStudios — with flagship locations in Silicon Valley and the New York Stock Exchange — SiliconANGLE Media operates at the intersection of media, technology and AI.
Founded by tech visionaries John Furrier and Dave Vellante, SiliconANGLE Media has built a dynamic ecosystem of industry-leading digital media brands that reach 15+ million elite tech professionals. Our new proprietary theCUBE AI Video Cloud is breaking ground in audience interaction, leveraging theCUBEai.com neural network to help technology companies make data-driven decisions and stay at the forefront of industry conversations.
