The Biggest Crypto Heists
The world of crypto is volatile and fast-moving — and for as many investment opportunities as it represents, the risks presented by cryptocurrencies can also become costly losses for the unprepared.
In crypto, much is said of the encryption technology of the blockchain and of cryptocurrencies themselves, likening themselves to the true digital equivalent of cash. Yet the problem with cash, of course, is that it can be stolen.
Crypto crimes are becoming ever more daring
Once thought impossible in the crypto space, these super secure blockchain coins are actually becoming lucrative opportunities among the criminal underworld — or even the brave and the bold who have access to areas of an organization that expose vulnerabilities in a given crypto token’s network.
Whether crimes of opportunity or meticulously planned thefts, schemed to the last detail, there’s no denying that the headlines today are ablaze with crypto crimes as much as they are opportunities.
Is this the cost of creating true digital cash? Is regulation the answer, or does that invalidate the decentralized philosophy that crypto collectors uphold so passionately?
Whatever the answer, here are the biggest crypto heists we know — backed by data from Statista.
Poly Network — $611 million in crypto stolen
The largest crypto heist ever recorded is also troublingly recent, considering when it was executed. In August 2021, the peer-to-peer token exchange Poly Network announced that over $611 million in crypto coins and tokens had been illegally removed from its platform.
The staggering sum had many raising concerns over the decentralized finance (DeFi) space and its comparative lack of regulations when compared to traditional fiat money systems.
Indeed, it may well be the more regulated fiat system that ultimately prompted the thieves to return the crypto to Poly Network. While both the organization and Twitter discourse surrounding the crypto heist labeled it a ‘white hat’ hack that exposed security vulnerabilities in Poly Network’s digital infrastructure, some experts believe that laundering such an incredible sum of crypto was almost impossible for the criminals to get away with — hence the return of the funds.
Ronin — $540 million in crypto stolen
Ronin is most widely known as the organization responsible for pioneering the NFT-based online video game Axie Infinity. However, an unfortunate crypto heist in 2022 has tarnished this reputation as an innovator in the entertainment industry with a high-profile hack, to the tune of $540 million in stolen crypto tokens.
Both Ether coins, part of the leading cryptocurrency Ethereum, as well as USDC stablecoins were stolen as part of the heist. It’s important to remember that, although the value of the stolen assets has since ballooned to $625 million as time has passed, the $540 million value as of late March 2022 still makes this a hugely significant security breach.
Many in the United States have blamed criminals in North Korea for the crime. However, what makes this crypto heist especially egregious is that it utilized specialized internal protocols and node infrastructures developed by Ronin themselves to ‘override’ the traditional checks and security measures that blockchain technology uses when moving funds from user to user. This has once again raised huge concerns over the efficacy of security in decentralized finance at large.
Coincheck — $500 million in crypto stolen
Until the dawn of the 2020s, the infamous Coincheck crypto heist was the biggest of its kind in history. Headquartered in the Japanese capital of Tokyo, Coincheck is a cryptocurrency exchange, designed to easily allow users to switch between crypto tokens and invest speculatively in assets.
This was one of the first crypto heists that put something of a stalemate in place between the criminals and the financial institutions responsible for the crypto ecosystem…
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