New Zealand's largest crypto exchange — hacked for $16M+ in January 2019, placed into liquidation four months later with a 900,000-user ownership dispute still ongoing in 2024
Evaluating only Cryptopia’s profile at its peak — without knowing the outcome — the model ranked Fraud as the #1 likely cause. That’s exactly how it died.
Key Events Timeline
FOUNDING
Cryptopia founded
FRAUD EXPOSURE
Fraud allegations surface
SHUTDOWN
Sudden Collapse: Cryptopia ceases operations
Full Analysis
Free · no account needed
Documented cause
Cryptopia was founded in 2014 in Christchurch, New Zealand and grew into the country's largest cryptocurrency exchange, serving approximately 900,000 users globally with support for hundreds of altcoins. In January 2019, hackers breached Cryptopia's security and stole approximately $16M in Ethereum-based tokens — exploiting a vulnerability in how the exchange managed its Ethereum wallets. Rather than recovering, the theft triggered a cascade: Cryptopia suspended trading for two months, losing customer trust and trading volume. Cryptopia was placed into voluntary liquidation in May 2019. The liquidation became a landmark legal case: New Zealand courts eventually ruled that crypto held on exchanges constitutes property held in trust, which affected how creditors were classified. Creditor repayments were still ongoing in 2024, five years after the hack.