Nearly six years after Cryptopia’s infamous 2019 hack, liquidators have begun compensating the platform’s affected users.
Grant Thornton, the firm handling the exchange’s bankruptcy proceedings, announced that it had initiated the distribution of over 400 million New Zealand dollars (approximately $225 million) to more than 10,000 verified users who lost funds during the breach.
The hack, which drained around $16 million in various cryptocurrencies, led to the exchange’s eventual collapse. Since then, Grant Thornton has worked to distribute the assets recovered through the liquidation process, which was formalized with the launch of the Cryptopia claims portal in 2020. The initial payouts were made in Bitcoin and Dogecoin, with plans to extend further distributions in the near future.
As the process moves forward, Grant Thornton has outlined that more funds will be allocated to verified users in the coming months. The liquidation team has also noted that any unclaimed assets from users who failed to register for the claims portal will be used to boost payouts, potentially ensuring that all eligible users can receive up to 100% of their initial losses.
With continued calls for remaining Cryptopia account holders to complete the necessary steps to register and confirm their claims, Grant Thornton hopes to wrap up this phase of the distribution by the beginning of the new year. The exchange, once a major player in the New Zealand crypto scene, had faced numerous challenges, from the hack to its eventual insolvency. Despite this, the liquidation process continues to move forward, offering some recovery for those who were impacted by the breach.