New Zealand Police Say Cryptopia Is Ready to Resume Trading, but Platform Remains Offline

The New Zealand Police have reported that recently hacked crypto exchange Cryptopia is ready to be relaunched and resume operations, Auckland-based news agency The New Zealand Herald reports on Feb. 13.

Detective inspector Greg Murton reportedly said that the main part of the work required by the High Tech Crime Group at Cryptopia's business premises in Christchurch has been mostly finished, claiming that Cryptopia management now have full access to their facilities and business premises.

The inspector stated that the police are not preventing Cryptopia from resuming their operations, and reportedly declined to specify on whether or when charges might be pressed. Murton also denied to comment on how much cryptocurrency has stolen in the hack, which was reported on Jan. 15.

While New Zealand police have reported that Cryptopia is "open again whenever they like,” the company’s website remains offline at press time, still reporting maintenance and citing an official report by the New Zealand police on the investigation of the crypto exchange.

As reported by The New Zealand Herald, Cryptopia founders did not immediately respond to queries about when or whether the exchange will resume operations. Meanwhile, Cryptopia social media accounts have also remained silent, with its Twitter account having been inactive since Jan. 28.

After the hack that led to more than $16.1 million stolen from New Zealand’s exchange Cryptopia, New Zealand Police had launched an investigation along with international law enforcement to track the hackers. The hacking attack began on Jan. 15 and reportedly lasted about two weeks, with funds removed from tens of thousands of Ethereum (ETH) wallets.

According to the latest report by The New Zealand Herald, some crypto experts have estimated the amount of stolen crypto to be worth up to $23 million.

On Feb. 7, the New Zealand police officially reported “excellent progress” in their investigation of the Cryptopia hack, also claiming that the process is expected to take a “considerable amount of time to resolve due to the complexity of the cyber environment.”

Previously on Feb. 4, a blockchain analytics firm found that $3.2 million in stolen tokens from Cryptopia have been liquidated on major cryptocurrency exchanges, with the most of the funds going through Etherdelta, Binance and Bitbox.