The Italian crypto exchange BitGrail says that 17 million crypto coins, called Nano, have disappeared through a hack.
Last Friday, BitGrail placed a short post on their site with the explanation that 17 million Nano coins have disappeared. There would have been fraudulent transactions which BitGrail does not publish. Almost immediately afterwards all transactions were closed via the platform and the price of Nano took a dive of 9.77 euros to 8 euros per currency.
The news of the hack was received rather skeptically. Earlier in January, BitGrail stopped all transactions of Nano (then still known under the name 'Raiblocks') and they also decided to close the accounts of all users from outside the EU. Several users already feared an exit scam from BitGrail founder Francesco Firano. The timing of the hack so soon after the other controversies is for many people rather suspicious.
The team behind Nano also transfers the debt to BitGrail. In a blog post they stated that Firano has deceived both of them and the crypto-community and also that the problem lies with the BitGrail software. In their post they also shared their complete chat log with Firano about the hack. This shows that he proposed to Nano to adjust the general ledger in order to cover the losses. Firano denies these accusations. In his defense he said, “If the error were at BitGrail, all coins would have to be stolen and not just the Nano.”
On Twitter, Firano also announced that BitGrail can not compensate all lost coins in any way.