Theft and Hack of Cryptocurrencies
Crypto currency's biggest thefts. The future will tell whether it is safe?
Question: How many Cryptocurrencies are there in 2022.
As of March 2022, there were 18,465 cryptocurrencies in existence. However, not all cryptocurrencies are active or valuable. Discounting many “dead” cryptos leaves around 10,363 active cryptocurrencies. There are upwards of 300 million cryptocurrency users across the globe. And approximately 18,000 businesses now accept a form of crypto as payment.
Sources: CoinMarketCap, investing.com
Of the, 10,363 active cryptocurrencies, these have the lion’s share.
· Bitcoin (BTC) – $218.85 billion
· Ethereum (ETH)- $46.56 billion
· Ripple (XRP) – $13.07 billion
· Tether (USDT) – $10.01 billion
· Chainlink (LINK) – $5.61 billion
· Bitcoin Cash (BCH) – $5.41 billion
· Litecoin (LTC) – $4.08 billion
· Bitcoin SV (BSV) – $3.83 billion
· Cardano (ADA) – $3.4 billion
· Binance Coin (BNB) – $3.3 billion
From where have the biggest hacks and thefts taken place?
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1. Poly Network – $610 million stolen:
In August 2021, a hacker attacked Poly Network by exploiting a vulnerability in its system and managed to steal funds worth over $600 million.
Hackers stole around $610 million in August 2021 from Poly Network, a platform that facilitates peer-to-peer token transactions. The hackers behind the heist later returned nearly all of the stolen funds.
The hack underscored vulnerabilities in the burgeoning decentralised finance - DeFi - sector, where users lend, borrow and save in digital tokens, bypassing the traditional gatekeepers of finance such as banks and exchanges.
2. COINCHECK
In Jan. 2018, hackers stole cryptocurrency then worth around $530 million from Tokyo-based exchange Coincheck. The thieves attacked one of Coincheck's "hot wallet" - a digital folder stored online - to drain the funds, drawing attention to security at exchanges.
The hack raised questions in Japan about the regulation of the digital asset market. South Korea's intelligence agency said at the time that a North Korean hacking group may have been behind the heist.
3. MT. GOX
In one of the earliest and most-high profile crypto hacks, bitcoin worth close to $500 million dollars was stolen from the Mt.Gox exchange in Tokyo - then the world's biggest - between 2011 and 2014.
Mt.Gox, which once handled 80% of the world's bitcoin trade, filed for bankruptcy in early 2014 after the hack was revealed, with some 24,000 customers losing access to their funds.
Bitcoin had its own near-death moment when the hack of Mt. Gox happened.
4. WORMHOLE
DeFi site Wormhole was hit by a $320 million heist last month, with the hackers making off with 120,000 digital tokens connected to the second-largest cryptocurrency, ether.
The crypto arm of Chicago-based Jump Trading, which had the year before acquired the developer behind Wormhole, later replaced the funds "to make community members whole and support Wormhole now as it continues to develop."
5. Bitfinex Bitcoin Hack
More than $60m worth of bitcoin was stolen from one of the world's largest digital currency exchanges in 2016 and the event is still shrouded in mystery.
The theft of 199,754 Bitcoin from the Bitfinex exchange six years ago was one of the most pivotal moments in early crypto history.
Whilst the hacked Bitcoin was worth $71 million at that time, it is now worth around $4.5 billion.
And finally, a New York couple was accused and arrested of attempting to launder $3.6 billion in stolen cryptocurrency stemming from the Bitfinex hack in 2016
“Two individuals were arrested this morning in Manhattan for an alleged conspiracy to launder cryptocurrency that was stolen during the 2016 hack of Bitfinex, a virtual currency exchange, presently valued at approximately $4.5 billion. Thus far, law enforcement has seized over $3.6 billion in cryptocurrency linked to that hack.” – DOJ Tuesday, February 8, 2022
A very interesting piece on #cryptocurrency