“Oh, NO! We’ve lost 40 ETHs and USDs!”
I shouted to my husband who was working in our office room. He ran to me with widened eyes. “I’ve just checked our Gemini accounts after receiving an email from IRA Financial Trust where we have IRA cryptos. The email said they discovered suspicious activity that affected their network. All ETHs and USDs we held are gone!”
I got freaked out and called IRA Financial Trust right away. No one picked up. I quickly googled. “Hackers Snagged $36 Million in Crypto in Breach of IRA Financial” Bloomberg reported this on Feb. 14, 2022 after the hack happened on Feb. 8. I had no idea until I received the email from IRA Financial Trust on Feb 18.
In a few weeks, IRA Financial Trust sent another email saying, “We are pleased to report that all IRAF customers with accounts on the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange may now resume trading.” However, my ETHs are still gone even though USDs were restored.
On Mar. 31, 2022, I received another email: “A lawsuit was filed that purports to bring claims against IRA Financial and Gemini on behalf of all affected customers. The case is captioned Marshall Griffin, on behalf of himself individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated, vs. Gemini Trust Company LLC and IRA Financial Trust Company, Northern District of California Case No. 3:22-cv-01747-AGT. Now that we are in active litigation, we cannot communicate further on the matter at this time.”
On June 6, 2022, IRA Financial Trust sent another email: “As part of this process, today, IRA Financial Trust filed a lawsuit against Gemini (S.D.N.Y. Case No. 1:22-cv-04672) in federal court in New York based on Gemini’s failure to properly safeguard our customers’ cryptocurrency investments in its custody. We will use funds recovered from this lawsuit to make whole the customers who were impacted by this incident.”
On Aug. 1, 2022, Bloomberg reported “IRA Financial, Gemini Can Force Arbitration of Breach Claims,” which I’m not sure of what it means. As of September 1, 2022, I’m still waiting for my ETHs to be restored.