In the aftermath of a security breach in May resulting in losses exceeding $300 million, Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin has announced that it will cease operations. The exchange’s assets will be acquired by SBI VC Trade, the crypto arm of financial conglomerate SBI Group, according to a statement released on Monday.
According to a translated version of a Japanese statement, DMM Bitcoin has reached an agreement with SBI to transfer customer accounts and custodial assets to SBI by approximately March 2025. The transfer will not include open leveraged trading positions, which must be settled before the transfer takes place.
The decision to shut down comes in response to a security breach in May, in which 4,502.9 BTC (approximately $306 million at the time) was stolen. In order to recover from the losses, DMM Bitcoin raised 55 billion yen ($365.1 million) through several funding initiatives. This included 5 billion yen ($33.2 million) in borrowing on June 3, a capital increase of 48 billion yen ($318.6 million) on June 7, and an additional 2 billion yen ($13.3 million) through subordinated borrowing on June 10.
Overall, the shutdown and transfer of assets to SBI VC Trade will mark the end of DMM Bitcoin’s operations, as the exchange focuses on recovering from the hacking incident through its funding efforts.
