In the month of August, news of a US$190 million cryptocurrency theft emerged this week, despite cryptocurrencies being designed to be unhackable. A staggering $1.9 billion worth of cryptocurrency was stolen in hacks of various services in the first seven months of this year, marking a 60% increase from the same period in the year prior, according to a report released Tuesday from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis.
Some of the biggest crypto hacks of 2022 were on DeFi protocols, including the US$625 million hack of video game Axie Infinity's Ronin network in March. Some of these thefts, including the Axie incident, have since been attributed to hackers associated with North Korea.
In last 5 years, hackers have gotten away with more than US$2 billion worth of cryptocurrency since 2017 by attacking the unique vulnerabilities of blockchains, MIT Technology Review reports. In other words, forget what you heard from Bitcoin boosters — just because information or currency is on a blockchain doesn't necessarily mean that it's more secure than any other form of storage.
In 2019, the security team at Coinbase noticed something strange going on in Ethereum Classic, one of the cryptocurrencies people can buy and sell using Coinbase's popular exchange platform. Its blockchain, the history of all its transactions, was under attack.
An attacker had somehow gained control of more than half of the network's computing power and was using it to rewrite the transaction history. That made it possible to spend the same cryptocurrency more than once—known as "double spends." The attacker was spotted pulling this off to the tune of US$1.1 million. Coinbase claims that no currency was actually stolen from any of its accounts. But a second popular exchange, Gate.io, has admitted it wasn't so lucky, losing around $200,000 to the attacker (who, strangely, returned half of it days later).
Join our WhatsApp Channel to get the latest news, exclusives and videos on WhatsApp
_____________
Disclaimer: Analytics Insight does not provide financial advice or guidance. Also note that the cryptocurrencies mentioned/listed on the website could potentially be scams, i.e. designed to induce you to invest financial resources that may be lost forever and not be recoverable once investments are made. You are responsible for conducting your own research (DYOR) before making any investments. Read more here.