Cryptopia exchange liquidator warns users against ‘third party’ scheme

Hacked crypto exchange Cryptopia’s assigned liquidator, Grant Thornton New Zealand shared a follow-up update for Cryptopia account holders stating that “due to an error” by court staff at the Christchurch High Court, certain customer data “had been provided to an unauthorized third party.”

The liquidators believed that this third party could try to use this data “to mislead and influence account holders’ decision making.” According to the firm, this party is allegedly associated with a scheme named “Cryptopia Rescue, a New Zealand company.” Grant Thornton also stated that “Cryptopia Rescue” was claiming that the liquidators would not abide by the New Zealand High Court’s judgment in relation to the assets of Cryptopia (which they re-assured, in the latest update, that they would).

Grant Thornton said: 

Cryptopia Rescue was encouraging “members to contribute to their scheme” by paying a monetary contribution as a means of forcing us to work with them to supposedly fast track repayment of funds to certain users ahead of others, which is not in line with New Zealand Law. 

Grant Thornton urged account holders to make sure that communications asking them to deposit further funds “were not scams.” They further warned that members were being asked to enter into an agreement with a ‘principality’ that “does not physically exist.” The liquidators advised that any communications relating to the liquidation would only come from Grant Thornton’s official channels such as its website, or its social media accounts.

Grant Thornton earlier said that Cryptopia account holders would soon be able to register to claim their trapped crypto funds, which in total is worth nearly $100 million. At that time, they planned to reach out to 960,000 account holders of the hacked exchange who are said to be active.

Cryptopia lost $17.8 million worth of cryptocurrencies because of the hack in early 2019 which forced the exchange into liquidating its assets. It held an estimated $100 million worth of digital assets at the time of its liquidation. A court ruling in May this year deemed the funds as a form of property belonging to the holders, thus enabling the users to receive their cryptocurrencies back.

To date, the source of the hack has not been identified because of which, Grant Thornton said they would not open up the exchange “that was compromised.”

With regard to its recent update though, Grant Thornton said that the claim registration process was on track to be released in early December and that they would ask all account holders to register their claim and start the process of verifying their identity.