Liquid Global
Summary
Liquid Global (operating under its parent entity Quoine Pte. Ltd.) was a Japanese-headquartered cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2014 and rebranded from QUOINE to Liquid in 2018. In August 2021, the exchange suffered one of the largest exchange hacks of that year — approximately $97 million in Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, TRON, and other tokens stolen — with the attack subsequently attributed by Chainalysis to actors working on behalf of the DPRK, consistent with Lazarus Group tradecraft. FTX provided a $120 million emergency loan days after the breach, then acquired Liquid outright in April 2022; when FTX itself filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2022, Liquid halted all withdrawals and customer funds were caught in the subsequent restructuring proceedings.
Connected Entities
1 entities · 10 linked investigations- + 5 more
Timeline(15 events)
2014-01-01
Quoine Pte. Ltd. co-founded by Mike Kayamori and Mario Gomez Lozada in Singapore; initially operates Japanese and Vietnamese crypto exchange.
CoinTelegraph2017-08-01
QUOINE becomes the first global crypto fintech company to receive a license from Japan's Financial Services Agency (JFSA).
PR Newswire2018-01-01
QUOINE rebrands the exchange platform to Liquid, launching it as a global crypto-fiat exchange targeting institutional and retail users.
CoinDesk2020-01-01
Liquid suffers a DNS hijack attack, the first significant security incident for the exchange.
TRM Labs2021-08-18
Hackers gain unauthorized access to Liquid's MPC warm wallets operated by Quoine Pte. Ltd. and begin draining funds across Bitcoin, Ethereum, TRON, and XRP blockchains.
TRM Labs2021-08-19
Liquid publicly announces the hack. Total theft confirmed at approximately $97 million. Liquid suspends deposits and withdrawals. Community coordination freezes an estimated $16 million in Ethereum tokens.
CNBC2021-08-25
Liquid Global announces a $120 million debt financing facility from FTX to stabilize its capital position following the hack.
CoinDesk2021-10-01
Quoine Corporation receives a Type I Financial Instruments Business license from Japan's FSA, permitting cryptocurrency derivatives trading.
CoinTelegraph2022-01-14
Chainalysis publishes its 2022 Crypto Crime Report, attributing the Liquid hack to DPRK-linked actors and documenting the $91M laundering trail through DEXs, Tornado Cash, and Asian fiat exchanges.
Chainalysis2022-02-02
FTX announces the acquisition of Liquid Group for an undisclosed amount, citing Japan market expansion and access to Quoine's FSA license.
CoinDesk2022-04-04
FTX closes the acquisition of Liquid Group, a few days after the originally scheduled closing date.
CoinDesk2022-11-11
FTX Trading Ltd. and 134 affiliates including Quoine Pte. Ltd. file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.
Wikipedia / Kroll2022-11-15
Liquid Global announces the suspension of all fiat and cryptocurrency withdrawals, citing FTX's Chapter 11 filing. QASH token falls over 25%.
CoinDesk2023-09-29
Deadline for Liquid/Quoine customers to submit claims through the FTX restructuring claims portal administered by Kroll.
Liquid Help CenterDecision Log
- hash: 2jrHE5Gyy8GGTHjPmZvPLnSJtVNaRsSrzcB1CUD9QPzu
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, 12:59:52 PM
last updated: 5/30/2026, 12:59:57 PM
avoid.net — verified advice for a post-truth world