Cryptocurrency investors filed a suit against Coincheck on Thursday, seeking to force the Tokyo-based exchange to allow them to withdraw assets worth $183,000 frozen after last month’s $530 million heist of cryptocurrency.

The group of seven investors filed a suit at the Tokyo District Court, also requesting that Coincheck pay annualized interest of 5% on the value of the cryptocurrency from notification of the claim until it resumes withdrawals.

Coincheck, which froze all withdrawals of yen and cryptocurrency after the Jan. 26 heist, restarted on Tuesday yen withdrawals, unleashing a single-day outflow of $373 million. But it said it would keep curbs on withdrawals of cryptocurrencies until it could guarantee the secure resumption of its operations.

I’m hoping Coincheck will respond quickly and let us resume withdrawals.

 

One of the plaintiffs' statement

The plaintiff, a man in his 20s who had invested 400,000 yen in digital money at Coincheck, said he would not cease trading cryptocurrencies and was not concerned over their safety.

The plaintiffs plan to launch a second lawsuit on Feb. 27 to claim for any lost value of the digital money frozen by Coincheck, as well as other damages stemming from the curbs on withdrawals, said Hiromu Mochizuki, their lawyer.

The group’s frozen assets were worth 19.5 million yen ($183,047) as at the end of Tuesday, and span 12 virtual currencies, according to a court filing. Their value has slumped 31.3%, or 8.9 million yen, between the heist and Tuesday.