Hacking has been one of the barriers to the widespread use of digital currency. Investors have refrained from investing in different crypto exchanges and networks because of several rising thefts that have happened there.
Blockchain projects have been said to be secure, but two attacks in 2022 disproved this claim. In 2022, consumers have already had their bitcoin stolen for above $1.6 billion. However, this information was provided according to the blockchain data firm Chainalysis. Check out the biggest cryptocurrency hacks ever.
Largest Cryptocurrency Hacks So Far
#1. Ronin Network: $625 Million
Around March 2022, the greatest cryptocurrency attack to date hit the network that runs the famous Axie Infinity blockchain gaming system. Hackers broke into the Ronin Network and stole $625 million in Ether and also the USDC stablecoin. The crime was related to the Lazarus Group, a North Korean government cyber organization, according to US officials. A couple of months later, Binance were able to retrieve $5.8 million of stolen money, but it was still the greatest theft in history.
#2. Poly Network, 2021 – $611m
Last year’s $611 million stolen from Poly Network, a cryptographic protocol interface that enables users to swap tokens between divergent blockchains such as both Bitcoin and Ethereum, was the second largest crypto crime of all time.
A hacker moved $611 million in Poly Network coins to three accounts under their authority on August 10th, 2021. According to Mudit Gupta’s investigation, the attacker discovered a technique to ‘unlock’ (ie acquire) tokens on the Poly Wired network without ‘lock’ (ie selling) the equivalent tokens on all other blockchains. Fortunately, the hacker began returning tokens the following day. While some thought that they had difficulty selling the tokens, an assailant claimed to have taken them “for fun.” This was no doubt among the insane cryptocurrency hacks so far
All funds had been recovered by the end of the week, according to Poly Network, except $33 million in stablecoin Tether, which was locked instantly following the incident.
Immediately just after the incident, Steven Dickens, senior consultant at technology research firm Futurum, argued that it was likely to improve the long-term security of decentralized finance (DeFi) systems while undermining them in the near run. However, mistakes should be avoided in the future, he continued, “we must be mindful of the achievements done already by the Defi team [that is, for a variety of reasons, below a decade old.”
#3. Coincheck: $534 Million
In January period 2018, the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck was the victim of a hack that resulted in the theft of around $523 million worth of NEM coins. A hot wallet, also known as a real-time cryptocurrency wallet, is responsible for the vulnerability that was discovered. A hot wallet isn’t as secure as an offline cold chain wallet. However, the breach on Coincheck was even bigger than the renowned hack even more on Mt. Gox; the president of NEM Institute, Lon Wong, referred to it as “the largest robbery throughout the existence of the universe.” Coincheck was capable of surviving the breach and continued to function despite being acquired by the Japanese investment firm Monex Group a few months after the incident.
#4. Geox: $473 Million
The first big cryptocurrency hacks on a cryptocurrency exchange took place in 2011, when 25,000 bitcoins, worth around $400,000 at the time, were stolen from Mt. Gox. During that period, the cryptocurrency exchange was responsible for around 70 percent of all bitcoin exchanges. Unfortunately, the attack continued, and Mt. Gox was assaulted once more in 2014. It is estimated that approximately 650,000 bitcoins belonged to its clients, while the company itself lost approximately 100,000 bitcoins. That accounted for approximately 7% of most all bitcoins at the moment and had a value of approximately $473 million. The circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the money could not be determined at first, but subsequent investigations revealed that the coins had been taken from a hot wallet belonging to the company.
#5. Wormhole: $325 Million
In February 2022, the blockchain financial network Wormhole was the victim of one of the cryptocurrency hacks. The hackers made off with $325 million. An update to the development’s GitHub repository existed, but it hadn’t been implemented in real-time projects at the time of the attack. This had made the threat possible. After the money was not able to be retrieved, the well-known cryptocurrency bridge was forced to make up for the shortfall in the project’s budget. This was the biggest loss that involved Solana. They are one of the competitors to Ethereum’s hegemony in the realm of decentralized exchanges and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The native SOL cryptocurrency of the blockchain was used to collect as much as $47 million.
#6. Bitmart: $196 Million
The Bitmart centralized platform was breached in December 2021, with a loss of $196 million. A security analysis company discovered the hack after it noticed that BitMart addresses had lost all of their balance. Ethereum was used to transfer about $100 million in different cryptocurrencies, and $96 million was left via Binance Smart Chain. The coins were all transferred to an address identified by Etherscan as belonging to the “BitMart Hacker.”
#7. BitGrail, 2018 – $170m
Only a few weeks just after the Coincheck theft, a lesser Italian crypto exchange named BitGrail disclosed that cyber criminals had stolen $170 million worth of the specialized cryptocurrency Nano. According to a Reddit member, the breach cost them $1.4 million. The inability to pay back its clients caused the market to close.
A further investigation by an Italian court revealed that the tokens were taken out of the issuer’s wallets many months earlier. This could have happened as early as June 2017. They also have it that the CEO of the business was to blame for the absence of security measures.
#8. KuCoin, 2020 – $285m
In September 2020, Singapore-based crypto exchange KuCoin discovered $275m in looted cryptocurrency, comprising $127m in Ethereum smart contract coins. CEO Johnny Lyu said hackers stole the currency’s ‘hot wallets. However, KuCoin’s insurance paid the leftover 16% of the stolen funds, therefore all clients were repaid in February 2021.
#9. Nomad Token Bridge, 2022 – $190m
In a few short hours in August 2022, $190 million worth of cryptocurrencies were stolen from the cross-chain protocol Nomad Currency Bridge. As a result of a bug introduced into the protocol during maintenance. Hackers were capable of making arbitrary transfers by altering the transaction codes of prior ones. Hackers multiplied rapidly after the initial attack was launched. The event was called “the most chaotic breaches the web had ever witnessed”. It was also called “the first de-centralized crowd theft of a nine-figure structure in history.” Nomad had marketed itself as an “access control cross-chain communication protocol,” a reaction to the billions stolen from such bridges in recent years.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Binance safe from cryptocurrency hacks?
More than $500 million in Binance cryptocurrency was stolen in a breach. It pours when it rains. Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, was the victim of a devastating attack on Thursday night, just as the cryptocurrency market was beginning to show signs of recovery.
Is it possible to retrieve lost Bitcoin?
Can I expect a refund? Your virtual currency is almost certainly gone forever once it has been stolen.
Conclusion
The hacking of the cryptocurrency system has been happening for a long time and has caused her to most people. The information provided today was to warn against the exposure of crypto wallets and getting involved in on-legalized crypto exchanges.