They are often offered as a secure payment method, however cryptocurrencies have had some setbacks during their (short) history. Here are 5 hacks that have had an impact on the digital asset industry.
No rest for pirates. In the first seven months of the year, hackers actually stole 2 billion eurosAccording to Atlas VPN. and more 80 attacks determined during the first semester. Number in net increase compared to the same period last year.
These hacks are not new. But as the cryptocurrency ecosystem grows, so does the severity and frequency of attacks. For the modern crypto industry, these hacks are a huge challenge. Especially since the heavyweight companies in this sector were not spared from that. From the Bitfinex Poly network, here 5 piercing Made history.
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5- Bitfinex: 73.1 million euros
In 2016, Bitfinex was the benchmark cryptocurrency exchange in the market. So when his teams announced that hackers had infiltrated him before they fled with him 119,756 bitcoins (Around 73.1 million euros), the markets took a hit.
In total, penetration accounted for more than a third (36%) Funds hosted on Bitfinex, one of the players in Hong Kong. So the result was not long in coming. In the hours that followed, the price of bitcoin fell from 20%to finally stabilize at the lowest price 480 euros.
For 5 years, the stolen money remained untraceable. Then in 2022, when the facts already seem to be a thing of the past, an American couple is arrested for money laundering. Even better: Authorities say they’ve found the stolen bitcoins. The money will be used to compensate hack victims in 2016.
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4. Binance: 101 million euros
In early October 2022, Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, came close to disaster. Hackers managed to steal 2 million BNBthe official currency of the platform, approx 569 million euros.
Concretely, the hackers used the security breach to generate additional BNB. Then they transferred the funds to other blockchains. However, approx 80% The illegal funds could have been immediately frozen by Binance.
So the worst was seen. And the pirates are left with only 101 million eurosAccording to information provided by Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance.
3- Wormhole: 330 million euros
The hole is a Bridge, that is, a service for sending money between different blockchains using a smart contract. This protocol quickly became popular as it connects the Solana blockchain with other widely used blockchains, such as Ethereum, Polygon, or Avalanche.
But on Wednesday, February 2, 2022, just before 10 p.m., the developers of The Wormhole warned users that an attack was in progress. Then the news broke: a hacker exploited a flaw in the code to get away with it 120,000 Ethereum coinsAround 330 million euros at the time of the flight.
The developers tried to contact the scammer to ask him to return the stolen money. They offered him a reward 10 million euros they change. But their request remained a dead letter. And the funds were not found.
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2- Ronin: 561 million euros
Ronin is a secondary block chain of the Ethereum network, created by SkyMavis, publisher of the highly popular online fighting game Axie Infinity. On March 23rd, Ronin suffered one of the biggest thefts in crypto history.
hackers took over 173,600 Ethereum tokens And the $25.5 million USDA stablecoin backed by the dollar. balance sheet? At the time of the theft, the stolen goods were estimated at approx 561 million euros.
Several months later, the FBI and Chainalysis announced that they had recovered 30.4 million euros flights during penetration. The remainder of the funds and the hack’s perpetrators remain untraceable at this time.
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1. Poly Network: 610 million euros
The largest ever cryptocurrency hack occurred in August 2021. Poly Network, a decentralized financial (DeFi) platform announced that it was the victim of a hack. Loot amount: 610 million euros.
In its communications, Polly Network urged the hacker to cooperate and return the stolen money. The company insisted that law enforcement in any country would consider this a major economic crime and you would be prosecuted.
Reaction may seem naive. However: Soon after, the hacker contacted the poly network. At first, his intentions were not very clear. In particular, he said, maybe I’ll put some tokens back or just leave them there.
But after several exchanges, the person now calling himself Mr. White Hat agreed to return the money. He even claims to have exploited the flaw for the sole purpose of securing funds before other hackers exploited them.
Poly Network has since stated that it does not intend to hold Mr. White Hat responsible. The company also offered the hacker the job of head of security and a bonus 508,000 euros to find the loophole.
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