Popular Japanese girl band stays true to crypto despite theft

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The Virtual Currency Girls is a popular Japanese girl band that, as the name suggests, is big on cryptocurrency. In lieu of Japanese yen or other fiat currency for their performances, the girls receive cryptocurrency for ticket and merchandise sales.

That practice was recently put to the test following the record $530 million crypto theft a few days ago; however, the band has decided to stay loyal to cryptocurrency and will have refused to be paid in anything else.

When the multi-million dollar theft of the cryptocurrency Nem came to light, Tokyo’s Coincheck exchange was forced by regulators to halt trading, and many trading accounts were frozen. One of these accounts had been used to pay the band its salary, resulting in the group’s manager offering to pay them in Yen. However, the group declined the offer, choosing instead to stay true to their cryptocurrency alliance.

The eight members of the band, who range between 15 and 22 years of age, typically sport cryptocurrency symbols and wild costumes, such as wrestling masks with pom-pom ears. They’re out to make their mark in the music industry following their debut earlier this month and are quickly gathering momentum.

The band uses their songs, such as “The Moon, Cryptocurrencies and Me,” to help explain the cryptocurrency craze. Virtual Currency Girls was created by the talent management company Cinderella Academy and had its first concert on January 12. Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Ripple, Neo, Nem, Cardano and Mona are all represented.

Cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck was hacked this past weekend, resulting in 260,000 users losing their funds. For its part, Coincheck has promised to reimburse up to about 90% of the stolen funds to the affected users, but hasn’t said when or how it would handle the reimbursements. The theft of $530 million in cryptocurrency is thought to be the largest to date, and resulted in the exchange being put under the microscope by government securities regulators. Coincheck could face fines or other punishment as a result of the hack.

This isn’t the first cyber break-in the cryptocurrency world has had to overcome. In 2014, hackers made off with $400 million in Bitcoin after breaking into the Mt. Gox exchange. In December of last year, Bitcoin mining platform NiceHash was the target of hackers who made off with around $68 million in Bitcoin.