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Formal Financial Support Agreement Concluded for Hacked Zaif Crypto Exchange

Tech Bureau Corp., owner of Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Zaif, announced that it concluded a business transfer agreement with Fisco Cryptocurrency Exchange Inc. to transfer the business of Zaif to Fisco Cryptocurrency Exchange on October 10. The date of business transfer will be November 22.

Zaif was hacked on September 14 and lost about 4.5 billion yen (39 million U.S. dollars) worth of cryptocurrencies.

Tech Bureau’s announcement explained that customers’ assets will be protected by the business transfer under the official agreement, as Fisco Cryptocurrency Exchange will assume customers’ rights with Tech Bureau in regards to seeking a return of deposited cryptocurrency and the remaining cryptocurrency that was not lost.

Fisco Cryptocurrency Exchange Inc. has already finished procuring funds for the approximately 4.5 billion yen worth of cryptocurrency lost at Zaif in order to protect customers, which in turn protects customer assets (and the right to request a return of cryptocurrency).

Tech Bureau reported that it had reached an earlier basic agreement for “financial support of 5 billion yen, enter a capital alliance enabling acquisition of a majority of the Company’s shares and allow for a majority of directors and the dispatch of an auditor” on September 20. However, the ultimate agreement pursues a business transfer from the standpoint of avoiding risk to those providing financial support and the condition to implement a decision promptly in order to protect customers.

Cryptocurrency services including transactions, buying and selling through simple transactions and savings for Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash will continue as normal from October 10th onward. Deposit and withdrawal services are also scheduled to resume after operations have been assumed by the Fisco Cryptocurrency Exchange, with more specific service resumptions to be announced at a later date.

For users that had owned Monacoin, compensation will be made in Japanese yen to the equivalent value of cryptocurrency that had been possessed. Compensation will be paid at a rate of 144.548 yen/Monacoin.

Monacoin compensation is being returned in Japanese yen because it would be difficult to procure cryptocurrency suitable to the amount lost in the outflow incident from the market, as Monacoin’s market distribution amounts are scarcer compared to other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. However, this does not mean the entire amount of compensation for Monacoin will be converted into Japanese yen and returned; about 40% of Tech Bureau’s Monacoin was lost in the outflow incident, thus about 60% of Monacoin will be returned, with about 40% compensated in Japanese yen.