TOKYO – The Japanese bitcoin wallet and exchange service Coincheck said on Sunday that 260,000 people have been affected by the alleged hacking of cryptocurrency NEM and announced that the service will reimburse the missing assets.

In a statement, the company explained that it will use its own assets to return to affected customers the equivalent in yen of their investment in the cryptocurrency.

Coincheck, one of the main cryptocoin exchange platforms in Japan and Asia, announced on Friday the theft of 58 billion yen ($534 million) in NEM by an alleged hacking which led to the suspension of their quotations and operations.

The measure affected the withdrawal, sale and issuance of NEM, as well as other virtual currencies and yen, which led dozens of customers to gather at the company headquarters in Tokyo demanding the return of their assets.

Coincheck explained on Sunday that those affected will receive in yen the equivalent of their investment in NEM to the exchange rate established at the time the quoting was suspended.

The company, listed in the Tokyo market since 2012, also said that it is committed to restarting services, suspended since Friday, to open an investigation into the theft and take measures to strengthen its security system.

Japan has been at the forefront in accepting cryptocurrencies by recognizing them as a form of payment and in setting legal requirements for all the exchange houses established there which has increased its value.

In 2014, Japan was the victim of the Mt. Gox scandal, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchange houses, which went bankrupt after the disappearance of hundreds of millions of dollars in bitcoin due to the alleged embezzlement by its owner, Mark Karpeles.