Skip to main content
AVOID.NET
← DMM Bitcoinreviewed 2026-10-16 · 25 claims checked

Fact-check findings

What an automated fact-checker found when it re-read DMM Bitcoin against the sources the page cites. Only the most recent review is shown.

Read this first

These findings are produced by an automated reviewer, and its results vary between runs: the same page, checked three times on the same day, came back with 15%, 20% and 34% of its claims disputed, mostly because each run extracted a different number of claims. Treat what follows as leads, not rulings.

“Disputed” means the reviewer could not reconcile the claim with the evidence it cited. It does not mean the claim is false. “Unverifiable” means no reachable source settled it either way.

Nothing here changes the page on its own. A proposed correction is applied only after a human moderator approves it; until then the page reads as it did when reviewed.

disputed 2unverifiable 2link rot 4partially supported 1confirmed 166 corrections pending · 0 applied

disputed

2 claims

The reviewer could not reconcile the claim with the evidence it cited. This is a lead, not a ruling that the claim is false.

  1. #12[disputed][awaiting moderator]in section: On-Chain Evidence
    “Huione Guarantee — a Cambodian online marketplace subsequently identified by the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) as a financial institution of primary money laundering concern with $11 billion in on-chain flows largely tied to illicit activity.”
    reviewerHuione Guarantee was identified by FinCEN as a financial institution of primary money laundering concern with $11 billion in on-chain flows largely tied to illicit activityThe $11 billion figure is real but is attributed to the wrong source: it comes from Elliptic's July 2024 research, while FinCEN's own designation document cites a materially different figure (~$4 billion in illicit proceeds). As written, the sentence implies FinCEN itself found $11 billion, which the primary FinCEN source contradicts.
    Proposed correction (not yet applied)
    Huione Guarantee — a Cambodian online marketplace subsequently identified by the U.S. Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) as a financial institution of primary money laundering concern; blockchain analytics firm Elliptic separately estimated $11 billion in on-chain flows through the platform largely tied to illicit activity, while FinCEN's own finding cited at least $4 billion in laundered illicit proceeds
    citedwww.fincen.gov/news/news-releases/fincen…undering-concern
  2. #19[disputed][awaiting moderator]in section: Exchange Shutdown
    “DMM Bitcoin's closure represents one of the most significant exchange failures in Japanese crypto history, second in scale only to the Coincheck hack of January 2018, which resulted in approximately $523 million in NEM token losses.”
    reviewerDMM Bitcoin's closure is second in scale only to the Coincheck hack of January 2018, which resulted in approximately $523 million in NEM token lossesThe page's $523 million figure appears to conflate the count of NEM tokens stolen (commonly cited as approximately 523 million XEM) with the dollar value of the loss, which independent sources consistently put around $530 million.
    Proposed correction (not yet applied)
    DMM Bitcoin's closure represents one of the most significant exchange failures in Japanese crypto history, second in scale only to the Coincheck hack of January 2018, which resulted in approximately $530 million in NEM token losses.

unverifiable

2 claims

No source the reviewer could reach confirms or contradicts the claim.

  1. #20[unverifiable][awaiting moderator]in section: The $305M Lazarus Hack
    “https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/fbi-dc3-and-npa-identification-of-north-korean-cyber-actors-tracked-as-tradertraitor-responsible-for-theft-of-308-million-from-bitcoindmmcom”
    reviewerfbi.gov press release URL is a live, working citationNot marked as link_rot because the 403 is consistent with bot-blocking rather than confirmed deletion, and the title/content is independently corroborated by multiple other outlets reporting the same release. Flagging for a human to check in a browser.
    citedwww.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/fbi-dc3-…om-bitcoindmmcom
  2. #25[unverifiable][awaiting moderator]in section: Risk Assessment
    “DMM Bitcoin is rated with a trust score of 10/100, reflecting that it is a defunct exchange responsible for one of the largest cryptocurrency security failures in history.”
    reviewerTrust score and risk-assessment narrative are an internal editorial judgment, not an independently checkable factual claimThe trust score itself is an editorial synthesis rather than a sourced factual assertion; the underlying factual claims it rests on (hack scale, attribution, regulatory order, closure) are each checked separately above and are largely confirmed.

partially supported

1 claim

The cited evidence supports part of the claim but not all of it.

  1. #10[partially supported][awaiting moderator]in section: On-Chain Evidence
    “Chainalysis independently confirmed the North Korean attribution and traced the flow of funds through the CoinJoin mixer before their movement to HuiOne Guarantee.”
    reviewerChainalysis independently confirmed the North Korean attribution and traced the flow of funds through the CoinJoin mixer before movement to Huione GuaranteeThe fund-tracing claim is well supported; 'independently confirmed the North Korean attribution' overstates what the cited Chainalysis post actually does, which is assert the North Korea link without laying out confirming evidence.
    citedwww.chainalysis.com/blog/crypto-hacking-…olen-funds-2025/

confirmed

16 claims

The cited evidence supports the claim as written.

  1. #1[confirmed][no action needed]in section: Background
    “DMM Bitcoin launched its trading platform on January 10, 2018, offering both spot and leverage trading across multiple cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP.”
    reviewerDMM Bitcoin launched its trading platform on January 10, 2018Cited source loads and confirms the January 10, 2018 launch date.
    citedwww.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/n…-coming-january/
  2. #2[confirmed][no action needed]in section: Background
    “DMM Bitcoin Co., Ltd. was a licensed cryptocurrency exchange operating under the umbrella of DMM Group (DMM.com), a large Japanese internet conglomerate founded in 1999 and headquartered in Tokyo.”
    reviewerDMM Group (DMM.com) was founded in 1999 and headquartered in TokyoFounding year and Tokyo headquarters independently verified.
  3. #3[confirmed][no action needed]in section: The $305M Lazarus Hack
    “On May 31, 2024, DMM Bitcoin publicly confirmed that 4,502.9 BTC — then valued at approximately $305 million USD — had been illegally transferred from its wallets in an unauthorized outflow.”
    reviewerOn May 31, 2024, DMM Bitcoin publicly confirmed that 4,502.9 BTC, then valued at approximately $305 million, had been illegally transferred from its walletsAmount, date and figure corroborated by the cited reporting and the Japanese regulator's own order.
    citedtechcrunch.com/2024/05/31/hackers-steal-…crypto-exchange/www.coindesk.com/business/2024/05/31/jap…uffers-305m-hack
  4. #4[confirmed][no action needed]in section: The $305M Lazarus Hack
    “The hack is ranked among the eight largest cryptocurrency thefts in history according to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, and was the largest single crypto hack of 2024.”
    reviewerThe hack is ranked among the eight largest cryptocurrency thefts in history according to Elliptic, and was the largest single crypto hack of 2024Both the ranking (Elliptic, conditional on hack confirmation) and 'largest of 2024' framing are corroborated.
    citedtechcrunch.com/2024/05/31/hackers-steal-…crypto-exchange/
  5. #5[confirmed][no action needed]in section: The $305M Lazarus Hack
    “The FBI, the U.S. Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3), and Japan's National Police Agency (NPA) jointly attributed the theft on December 23, 2024, to North Korean cyber actors operating under the designation TraderTraitor, also tracked as Jade Sleet, UNC4899, and Slow Pisces — a financially motivated subgroup of the Lazarus Group sponsored by North Korea's Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB).”
    reviewerThe FBI, DC3 and NPA jointly attributed the theft on December 23, 2024, to TraderTraitor/Jade Sleet/UNC4899/Slow Pisces, a Lazarus Group subgroup sponsored by North Korea's RGBfbi.gov returned HTTP 403 to automated fetch (likely bot-blocking, not necessarily dead — see link_rot note below), but the press release title and date are corroborated by multiple independent outlets and the NPA's own Dec 24, 2024 JST notice.
    citedwww.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/fbi-dc3-…om-bitcoindmmcomthehackernews.com/2024/12/north-korean-h…ll-off-308m.html
  6. #6[confirmed][no action needed]in section: The $305M Lazarus Hack
    “The attack was multi-stage and began in late March 2024, when a TraderTraitor operative posing as a recruiter on LinkedIn contacted a software developer employed at Ginco, a Tokyo-based enterprise cryptocurrency wallet software company that managed transaction systems on behalf of DMM Bitcoin.”
    reviewerAttack began late March 2024 with a TraderTraitor operative posing as a LinkedIn recruiter contacting a Ginco employee with a malicious coding-challenge scriptMatches the joint FBI/DC3/NPA attribution narrative reported across outlets.
    citedthehackernews.com/2024/12/north-korean-h…ll-off-308m.html
  7. #7[confirmed][no action needed]in section: On-Chain Evidence
    “The primary laundering method employed was a peel chain strategy, in which stolen funds were split and transferred across hundreds of intermediate wallet addresses in progressively smaller increments — beginning at approximately 499 BTC per hop and declining to 10–20 BTC increments — to frustrate blockchain tracing.”
    reviewerPeel chain laundering began at approximately 499 BTC per hop, declining to 10-20 BTC incrementsFigures match the cited Merkle Science flow-of-funds analysis.
    citedwww.merklescience.com/blog/hack-track-dm…f-funds-analysis
  8. #8[confirmed][no action needed]in section: On-Chain Evidence
    “ZachXBT publicly shared 538 wallet addresses linked to the operation, identifying Lazarus Group laundering techniques as the basis for attribution prior to the official FBI statement.”
    reviewerZachXBT reported in July 2024 that over $35 million had been bridged via THORChain to Ethereum/Avalanche, converted to USDT, bridged to Tron, and sent to Huione Guarantee; he shared 538 wallet addressesNote that ZachXBT's own framing was a suspicion of Lazarus Group ('suspected... due to similarities in laundering techniques'), not a definitive claim — the page's wording ('identifying Lazarus Group laundering techniques as the basis for attribution') is a fair characterization of that hedged framing.
    citedcointelegraph.com/news/lazarus-group-sus…dmm-bitcoin-hack
  9. #9[confirmed][no action needed]in section: On-Chain Evidence
    “Tether (USDT issuer) responded to the intelligence by blacklisting a Tron wallet address on July 12, 2024, freezing approximately $28.2–$30 million in USDT linked to Huione addresses connected to the laundering chain.”
    reviewerTether blacklisted a Tron wallet address on July 12, 2024, freezing approximately $28.2-$30 million in USDT linked to HuioneDate and hedged dollar range both check out against independent reporting.
    citedbeincrypto.com/lazarus-transfers-funds-f…mm-bitcoin-hack/
  10. #11[confirmed][no action needed]in section: On-Chain Evidence
    “TRM Labs also stated the hack bore hallmarks consistent with North Korean operational patterns.”
    reviewerTRM Labs stated the hack bore hallmarks consistent with North Korean operational patternsDirect quote from TRM Labs policy head corroborates this characterization.
  11. #13[confirmed][no action needed]in section: Regulatory Response (FSA Japan)
    “Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA), operating through the Kanto Local Finance Bureau, issued a formal business improvement order against DMM Bitcoin in September 2024 under Article 63-16 of the Payment Services Act.”
    reviewerJapan's FSA, via the Kanto Local Finance Bureau, issued a business improvement order in September 2024 under Article 63-16 of the Payment Services Act, citing concentrated authority over operations and securityVerified against the primary Japanese regulator notice, independent of the cited medium.com article (which returned HTTP 403 on fetch — see link_rot finding).
    citedmedium.com/tokyo-fintech/dmm-bitcoin-rec…der-004693593b8d
  12. #14[confirmed][no action needed]in section: Regulatory Response (FSA Japan)
    “DMM Bitcoin was required to submit a comprehensive business improvement plan to the FSA by October 28, 2024, detailing specific measures to prevent recurrence and an implementation timeline.”
    reviewerDMM Bitcoin was required to submit a business improvement plan to the FSA by October 28, 2024Independently corroborated.
  13. #15[confirmed][no action needed]in section: Regulatory Response (FSA Japan)
    “The FSA announced plans to require all third-party cryptocurrency custody and trading management firms (such as Ginco) to register with regulators before offering services to licensed exchanges — a direct policy response to the supply-chain vector exploited in the DMM attack.”
    reviewerFSA announced plans to require third-party crypto custody/trading management firms (such as Ginco) to register before serving licensed exchanges, and to submit 2026 legislation mandating liability reservesBoth the registration proposal and the 2026 legislation timeline are independently verified.
    citedfinance.yahoo.com/news/japan-fsa-weighs-…s-095902067.htmlwww.theblock.co/post/380286/japan-crypto…-reserve-mandate
  14. #16[confirmed][no action needed]in section: Exchange Shutdown
    “On December 2, 2024, DMM Bitcoin formally announced it would cease all operations and transfer all customer accounts and assets — both Japanese yen holdings and cryptocurrency balances — to SBI VC Trade, a cryptocurrency exchange operated by SBI Group, one of Japan's largest financial conglomerates.”
    reviewerOn December 2, 2024, DMM Bitcoin formally announced it would cease operations and transfer customer accounts/assets to SBI VC TradeThe Block's version of the same story is dated Dec 1, 2024 (US time), consistent with a Dec 2 JST announcement — not a discrepancy.
    citedwww.coindesk.com/business/2024/12/02/jap…after-305-m-hack
  15. #17[confirmed][no action needed]in section: Exchange Shutdown
    “The asset and account transfer was completed on or around March 8, 2025.”
    reviewerThe asset and account transfer to SBI VC Trade was completed on or around March 8, 2025The hedged phrasing 'on or around' appropriately covers minor delays SBI VC Trade itself acknowledged for some customers.
    citedcryptopotato.com/sbi-vc-trade-completes-…-bitcoin-assets/
  16. #18[confirmed][no action needed]in section: Exchange Shutdown
    “SBI VC Trade simultaneously added 14 new cryptocurrency spot trading pairs inherited from DMM's offerings, including TRX, SAND, ALGO, and MKR.”
    reviewerSBI VC Trade added 14 new trading pairs inherited from DMM, including TRX, SAND, ALGO, and MKRMatches cited source and The Block's coverage of the same transfer.
    citedcryptopotato.com/sbi-vc-trade-completes-…-bitcoin-assets/
How this fits together. The reviewer reads the published page and its cited sources and records one finding per claim. A human moderator decides whether each proposed correction is applied; those decisions, and the score changes they cause, appear in the audit log. Earlier review runs are not shown here; only the latest reflects the page as it stands.