BitGrail NANO Hack — February 2018
The Italian exchange disclosed approximately $170M in losses of NANO tokens. Founder Francesco Firano was later found liable by Italian courts and BitGrail entered bankruptcy proceedings.
BitGrail was a small Italian cryptocurrency exchange that gained outsized prominence in late 2017 as the primary trading venue for NANO (then called RaiBlocks), a fee-less feeless cryptocurrency with cult-like community support.
On 8 February 2018 founder Francesco Firano announced via Twitter that 17 million NANO tokens — approximately $170M at the time — were missing from BitGrail's custody. Firano publicly asked the NANO core development team to perform a hard fork that would redistribute the stolen tokens.
The NANO team refused. They published forensic analysis indicating BitGrail had been operating with a continuing shortfall well predating the disclosure date and that the alleged hack had served as a public-facing explanation for previously-existing missing funds. Italian prosecutors opened investigations into Firano personally.
BitGrail filed for bankruptcy in the Court of Florence in May 2018. In January 2019, the Court of Florence found Firano personally liable, ordering up to €1M of his personal assets transferred to a restitution fund. Customer recovery through the bankruptcy estate has continued in tranches over subsequent years.
Timeline
- Firano announces 17M NANO missing
Public Twitter disclosure. Initially asks NANO team to perform hard fork.
- NANO core team refuses hard fork
Publishes forensic analysis indicating pre-existing shortfall.
- BitGrail files for bankruptcy in Florence
Approximately 230,000 affected customers.
- Court of Florence finds Firano personally liable
Up to €1M of his personal assets ordered transferred to restitution fund.
Who was involved
- BitGrailexchangevictim$170.0M
Legal record
- Lead Court
- Court of Florence
- Bankruptcy Filed
- 2018-05-21
- Firano Personally Liable
- 2019-01-21