Skip to main content

BitGrail cryptocurrency exchange loses $170 million in Nano tokens

The Wall Street Journal has reported that Italian cryptocurrency exchange BitGrail has lost about 17 million Nano tokens. In total, the stolen tokens were worth $170 million.

BitGrail made the announcement on its website and said that it had lost about $170 million due to fraudulent transactions. It has already notified the authorities, who are investigating the matter. In addition, the exchange has placed a hold on all transactions in order to verify their authenticity.

Recommended Videos

A similar theft occurred earlier this year with Japan’s Coincheck exchange. That particular hack was much larger, with the exchange estimated to have lost as much as $534 million in cryptocurrency. Coincheck has said that it will reimburse the affected users, but BitGrail founder Francesco Firano said it would be impossible to completely refund the affected clients.

The team behind Nano have released a statement saying that theft was not due to an issue with Nano’s protocol, and lays the blame on BitGrail’s software. The announcement went on to state that they believe that “Firano has been misleading the Nano Core Team and the community regarding the solvency of the BitGrail exchange for a significant period of time.”

The team said that they would not be responding to any accusations from Firano, and are turning over all of their information regarding the incident — such as blockchain entries, screenshots, and chat logs — to law enforcement.

Additionally, the team published a copy of the conversation with Firano. They allege that he suggested modifying the Nano ledger to cover his losses. Nano said that was impossible and not something they’d do even if they could.

In a tweet, Firano called the accusations against him “unfounded” and said that he told the police that the Nano development team may have compromised their investigation by releasing the transcript of his conversation with them.

In a later tweet, Firano denied that he or Bitgrail were at fault for the theft.

Eric Brackett
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Every macOS version in order: from the first public beta to macOS 15
Apple MacBook Air 15 M4 front angled view showing display and keyboard.

Apple’s macOS operating system has changed a lot over the last 25 years, with new features and designs coming and going as the decades have passed. Even the name has been adjusted, starting out as Mac OS X before shortening to OS X and eventually settling on macOS. The world the original version inhabited back in 2000 is very different to today.

Including the initial public beta, Apple has released 22 versions of the Mac operating system so far, with new launches becoming an annual occurrence. But it wasn’t always this way, and there have been some fascinating updates and developments in the time since the first version appeared. Let’s see how macOS has changed over the years.

Read more
I tested Microsoft’s controversial Recall tool. It evolved Windows for me.
Running Windows 11 Recall on a Copilot+ PC.

Imagine a tool that takes an image of whatever appears on your computer’s screen, saves it locally, and lets you access it all like a time machine. A magical looking glass for the computing past. That’s essentially what Microsoft’s Recall is all about. Yet, when it was first introduced, it stirred up a security storm.

Microsoft pulled its release plans, fortified the security guardrails, and relaunched it a few weeks ago. This time around, Recall got a minor-but-amazingly practical upgrade. The best part? Instead of having you scrub through a long timeline of pictures, you can simply search through the entire activity history with words.

Read more
Dell sale: Up to $400 off monitors, desktop PCs, laptops, and more
Alienware Aurora R16 sitting on a coffee table.

Dell is always an excellent source of monitor deals, desktop computer deals, and laptop deals, especially if you're able to take advantage of the savings from Dell sales -- just like the one that's happening right now. Feel free to take a look at everything that's available through the link below, but you can also check out our favorite offers that we've rounded up. Either way, we highly recommend hurrying with your purchase -- these limited-time deals will only last until May 25, but there's a chance that stocks for the more popular devices will sell out long before then.

Alienware Aurora R16 gaming PC -- $2,450 $2,850 14% off

Read more