Cryptopia
Summary
Cryptopia was a New Zealand-based cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2014 in Christchurch that grew to over 1.4 million users before suffering a critical security breach in January 2019 in which approximately NZ$24 million (roughly USD $16 million) in Ethereum and ERC-20 tokens was stolen. The hack rendered the company insolvent, leading to its placement into liquidation in May 2019 under Grant Thornton New Zealand as appointed liquidators. The resulting legal proceedings produced a landmark 2020 High Court ruling — Ruscoe v Cryptopia Limited (In Liquidation) [2020] NZHC 728 — establishing that cryptocurrencies are intangible property capable of being held on trust under common law.
Connected Entities
1 entities · 10 linked investigations- + 7 more
Timeline(17 events)
2014-01-01
Cryptopia founded in Christchurch, New Zealand by Rob Dawson and Adam Clark as a hobby project.
Wikipedia / NZ Herald2016-01-01
Cryptopia transitions from hobby to full-time venture; founders invest personal savings and quit day jobs.
NZ Herald2017-12-01
Cryptopia user base surges from approximately 30,000 to over 1.4 million accounts during the cryptocurrency bull market.
Wikipedia2018-01-01
Cryptopia temporarily suspends new account creation amid reports of internal management friction and toxic workplace culture.
Wikipedia2019-01-14
Cryptopia detects unauthorized access; exchange taken offline. Attackers gain control of private keys stored on a central server.
CoinDesk2019-01-28
Secondary theft detected: 1,675 Ether drained from approximately 17,000 additional wallets while the exchange remains offline.
CoinDesk2019-02-27
Cryptopia publicly discloses that approximately 9.4% of total holdings (est. NZ$24M / USD $16M) was stolen.
CoinDesk2019-05-14
Cryptopia shareholders vote to place the company into liquidation; David Ruscoe and Russell Moore of Grant Thornton NZ appointed as joint liquidators.
Grant Thornton NZ2019-05-24
Liquidators file Chapter 15 petition in the Southern District of New York (Case No. 19-11688-smb) to protect U.S.-hosted data assets.
CoinDesk / Hunton2019-06-24
Judge Stuart M. Bernstein grants Chapter 15 recognition of the New Zealand liquidation proceeding.
Davis Polk2020-04-08
New Zealand High Court delivers landmark judgment in Ruscoe and Moore v Cryptopia Limited (In Liquidation) [2020] NZHC 728, ruling that cryptocurrencies are intangible property held on trust for account holders.
NZ High Court / Grant Thornton NZ2021-02-01
Second hack detected during liquidation: approximately NZ$62,000 (USD $45,000) in XSN (Stakenet) transferred from an inactive cold wallet without liquidator authorization.
CoinDesk2021-07-05
Former Cryptopia employee pleads guilty to stealing approximately NZ$248,000 (USD $172,000) in Bitcoin and other crypto using private keys copied to a USB drive.
CoinDesk2024-03-08
Grant Thornton announces commencement of first distribution round for verified Bitcoin and Dogecoin account holders.
CoinDesk2024-12-20
Grant Thornton announces distribution of NZ$400 million (USD $225 million) to more than 10,000 verified account holders, representing approximately 85–90% recovery of 2019-era balances.
Grant Thornton NZ2025-12-01
Grant Thornton files 14th Liquidators' Report; liquidation and recovery proceedings remain ongoing.
Grant Thornton NZDecision Log
- hash: 8LLMQNTpQZCPg2JCDWaAQkJ8U3pxYHR73zeQ4v6tHzGg
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain and source URLs are archived via the Internet Archive.
model: claude-sonnet-4-5
generated: 5/30/2026, 12:57:18 PM
last updated: 5/30/2026, 12:57:23 PM
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