SBI VC Trade Completes Acquisition of Hacked Crypto Exchange DMM Bitcoin Assets

SBI VC Trade, a crypto-focused subsidiary of Japan’s financial giant SBI Holdings, is set to inherit the accounts and assets of beleaguered crypto exchange DMM Bitcoin.

The transfer will take place on March 8, 2025, marking the culmination of DMM Bitcoin’s liquidation process after a devastating $305 million hack in May 2024.

Liquidation and Transfer Process

In a December 25 notice, SBI VC indicated that customer accounts would be ready by the transfer date, and they would not have to register afresh but would instead be transitioned automatically by the company. Both fiat and cryptocurrency held by former DMM users will be transferred to SBI, with the company inheriting reports of all transactions conducted on the fallen exchange.

The Tokyo-based firm initially offered 24 virtual assets for trade on its platform, but its acquisition of DMM Bitcoin will add an extra 14 cryptocurrencies to its books, including Tron (TRX), The Sandbox (SAND), Algorand (ALGO), and Maker (MKR).

Additionally, as part of the deal, SBI will take over all leveraged trading pairs previously offered by DMM except those it already provides. The company also clarified that it would not transfer any open positions in leveraged trading.

Per the notice, staking stocks will be automatically triggered, with customers that held Ethereum (ETH), Avalanche (AVAX), Oasys (OAS), Flare (FLR), and Hedera (HBAR) on DMM eligible for staking on SBI. They are expected to receive their first staking reward in April 2025 if they continue holding the assets.

Hacking Fallout

DMM Bitcoin announced its decision to stop operations after months of recovery efforts from a multi-million dollar attack at the end of May failed. The platform lost more than 4,500 BTC, valued at around $305 million, in what is Japan’s second-largest crypto breach after another exchange, Coincheck, lost $523 million worth of NEM tokens in a 2018 incident.

The DMM hack is suspected to have been carried out by threat actors linked to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), known as TradeTraitor. In July, investigators revealed that over $35 million stolen from the exchange had been laundered via the infamous Cambodian online marketplace Huione Guarantee.

At the time, pseudonymous on-chain detective ZachXBT likened the laundering techniques to those used by another DPRK-linked outfit, the notorious Lazarus Group.

Soon after it was exploited, DMM immediately pledged to make affected customers whole. However, even after borrowing 50 million yen to reimburse users, the damage to its operations proved too great, leading to the decision to transfer all assets to SBI VC Trade.

The firm confirmed the acquisition in a December 2 announcement, insisting that it would work to ensure a smooth transition for clients.