THE BIGGEST BITCOIN HACK SO FAR-COINCHECK APOLOGISE

Coincheck the exchanger of crypto currency in Japan has promised to partially refund the 260,000 cryptocurrency investors affected by the theft, although it didn't say when it would do so or where it's getting the money from.

The hacking at Coincheck, which bills itself on its website as "the leading bitcoin and crypto currency exchange in Asia," is now confirmed as the biggest theft on record in the crypto currency market of $530 million from its users.

This is more than the estimated $400 million in bitcoin stolen from MT GOX in 2014.

Coincheck said the hackers stole customer deposits of NEM, a well less well known digital currency. The exchange promised to use cash from its own funds to pay out ¥46.3 billion ($426 million) toward covering its users' losses. That’s about 20% less than the total value of the virtual tokens that were stolen.

Coincheck said in a blog post that the hack "has caused immense distress to our customers, other exchanges, and people throughout the crypto currency industry."

"We would like to offer our deepest and humblest apologies to all of those involved," the exchange said. It has currently suspended trading in all virtual currencies apart from bitcoin.