New Zealand’s Cryptopia pays back $225m to account holders after liquidation

Bankrupt crypto exchange Cryptopia is returning approximately $225 million worth of cryptocurrency to account holders through liquidators. This is the first phase of Cryptopia’s distribution plan since it went bankrupt in 2020.

Liquidators of the New Zealand-based crypto exchange revealed that more than 10,000 Bitcoin (BTC) and Dogecoin (DOGE) account holders received more than NZ$400 million ($225 million) worth of crypto funds in the last 48 hours, according to the NZ Herald .

Grant Thornton, the financial advisory firm responsible for liquidating Cryptopia’s assets to clients, said in the wake of Judge David Gendall’s 2020 decision that liquidators have been trying to identify users who will continue rebate payments since the launch of Cryptopia’s claims portal four years ago.

The firm explained that 10,000 accounts are just the tip of the iceberg, with an estimated total of 960,000 users on the exchange eligible to receive compensation following the crypto exchange’s untimely demise.

“This complex process also involved rebuilding the hacked cryptocurrency exchange and reconciling millions of transactions from approximately 960,000 users,” Grant Thornton said.

Moreover, the firm has hinted at an additional top-up distribution plan for Cryptopia account holders that will allow them to receive up to 100% of funds from “unowned assets” held by account holders who are not registered on the claim portal after the cut. history has passed.

For now, Grant Thornton stated that it will continue to remind account holders to register for the portal and take the necessary steps to meet the requirements for future distributions.

“Liquidators will inform account holders about the provisional deadline in the coming days. “More distributions to newly verified users are planned for the new year,” he added.

Cryptopia went bankrupt in 2019 after the exchange suffered a hacking attack that caused the loss of approximately $16 million in cryptocurrency. In May 2019, liquidators estimated that the exchange owed creditors an estimated total of $4.2 million.