Liquidators of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange Cryptopia have started distributing millions to users affected by a hack that took place almost six years ago.

Cryptopia’s liquidating firm, Grant Thornton, on Dec. 20  announced the start of distributions to more than 10,000 verified account holders affected by  Cryptopia’s hack in 2019 .

Over the past two days, verified account holders of Bitcoin ( BTC ) and Dogecoin ( DOGE ) received crypto distributions worth at least 400 million New Zealand dollars ($225 million), the liquidator said.

The payouts mark a significant milestone in Cryptopia’s liquidation process since Grant Thornton launched the Cryptopia claims portal in 2020.

Grant Thornton plans more distributions

Following this first distribution, liquidators will continue to follow the approved process, including providing notice of cut-off dates before distributing the remaining BTC, DOGE and other coins to account holders, Grant Thornton said.

“There may be an additional top-up distribution to account holders, allowing them to receive up to 100% of their holdings using ‘unclaimed holdings,’ from those account holders who have not registered in the claims portal after the cut-off dates,” the liquidator noted.

Grant Thornton encouraged all remaining Cryptopia account holders to register on the claims portal and complete the necessary steps to become eligible for future distributions.

“Further distributions for newly verified users are planned for the New Year,” Grant Thornton added.

Cryptopia lost $16 million to a hack in 2019

Founded in 2014, Cryptopia was an international cryptocurrency exchange and one of the earliest crypto exchange services in New Zealand. 

At its peak, Cryptopia had around 1.4 million registered users as of 2018 and was the largest crypto exchange in New Zealand. The exchange was also one of the first stablecoin issuers in the country, launching the NZD-backed NZed (NZDT) stablecoin in May 2017.

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Following Cryptopia’s hack in January 2019, early analysis suggested that the exchange had lost around $16 million worth of different crypto assets.

In May 2019, Cryptopia’s liquidator, Grant Thornton, released an estimation statement of the financial state of the firm, reporting that the  hacked exchange owed a total of $4.2 million  to its creditors.

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