On one side, the few loyal crypto supporters who are fighting legal battles in US, India and other corners of the world, the ones who believe cryptocurrencies are so much more than speculation or bubble.While on the other side-the darker side- we have some or the other news of hacks and stealing of cryptocurrencies. Just recently, in China 3 hackers were arrested for stealing 87 million dollars in crypto. It is not the first figure in millions. In past, various attempts have been made in hacking of exchanges resulting in millions of dollars of crypto stolen all over the globe.
Mt Gox, one of the top trading bitcoin exchange platform lost about 850,000 bitcoins- fraud of 450 million dollars- back in 2014. Almost 7 percent of the total bitcoin in circulation were erased from that one particular event. In 2016, another popular exchange Bitfinex was hacked with the company losing almost 120,000 bitcoins or 72 million dollars. In January earlier this year, Coincheck announced that hackers store 532 million dollars worth of cryptocurrency, the largest loss of cryptocurrencies since 2014 (Mt. Gox). Blockchain security firm CipherTrace recently reported that $731 million worth of cryptocurrencies were stolen from crypto exchanges during the first half of 2018.
Not just hacks, the infamous Silk Road episode has still not been wiped from people's minds. Launched in 2011, the website operated through TOR platform used bitcoins for trading means of illegal activities. All the transactions made on the website was done through bitcoins. The payment mode of bitcoin was preferred because it offered anonymity to its buyers and sellers. Ofcourse, one can easily argue the fact that such business has been happening since ages with 'Cash'. However it does put cryptocurrency in bad light.
There is some or the other news almost every month regarding hacking of exchanges, cryptocurrency being stolen or even using cryptocurrency as a mode for payment for cases of kidnapping or buying drugs. Though the world of cryptocurrency is at such an infantile stage, it still needs to establish itself with better security measures in order to shine beyond.
Data References:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/china-three-hackers-arrested-for-allegedly-stealing-87-million-in-crypto
https://coincodex.com/article/51/5-biggest-crypto-hacks-of-all-time/
https://www.cso.com.au/article/635648/7-biggest-recent-hacks-crypto-exchanges/
https://www.ccn.com/731-million-stolen-from-crypto-exchanges-in-2018-can-hacks-be-prevented/