$673 million stolen in crypto hacks in 2018
These are the biggest hacks. And most crypto scams and frauds occur much more frequently to individuals.
The cryptocurrency industry has suffered US$673 million in losses during the first quarter 2018, as a result of global hacks, ponzi scams, phishing attacks and digital currency theft, according to the latest research report.
Crypto Aware has curated a list of the most substantial reported crypto hacking incidents between 2011 and 2018. The not-for-profit organization verifies and summarizes reports in an effort to help the cryptocurrency community improve through education, advocacy and protection.
2018 is on track to becoming the worst year of crypto losses in terms of assets stolen. So far, before the first quarter is even over, the reported loss has grown to over $670 million. We have also witnessed significant attacks on altcoins.
Crypto Aware on the increasingly frequent attacks on the crypto community
Crypto Aware asserted that the list is by no means comprehensive for all of the losses related to cryptocurrency hacks and scams. The association revealed that in actuality most crypto-related scams and frauds occur much more frequently to individuals in smaller quantities, which often go unreported.
Crypto hacks and scams Q1 2018
| Name | Reported Loss (Crypto) | Reported Loss (USD) | Occurred On | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BTC Global Ponzi Scam | N/A | $50,000,000 | Mar 2018 | Coindesk |
| Coinhoarder Phishing Scams (ongoing) | N/A | $50,000,000 | Feb 2018 | Cisco Research |
| Seele ICO Theft | 2,162 ETH | $1,800,000 | Feb 2018 | Cointelegraph |
| Bee Token Phishing | 890 ETH | $928,000 | Feb 2018 | Coindesk |
| BitGrail Theft | 17,000,000 NANO | $170,000,000 | Feb 2018 | Bitcoinist |
| BlackWallet Theft | 670,000 XLM | $400,000 | Jan 2018 | Coindesk |
| Coincheck | 500,000,000 NEM | $400,000,000 | Jan 2018 | Bloomberg |
The scam alerts website also reveals that estimated losses from the most significant crypto hacks and scams between 2011 and 2018 is valued at approximately US$1.7 billion. This includes 1.7 million bitcoin, 4.5 million Ether, 304,000 litecoin, 500 million NEM, 30 million USDT, 17 million NANO and 670,000 Lumens.
Crypto Aware lists the Mt. Gox theft as the biggest bitcoin hack of all time. Around 800,000 bitcoin was stolen. The largest Ethereum hack was the DAO incident. 3.6 million ether was lost and the blockchain hardforked.
Former chief executive of ruined cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox, Mark Karpeles, admitted that he stands to benefit enormously as a result of Japan’s bankruptcy laws, according to a recent apology post on social media.
In February, research revealed that American electric car manufacturer Tesla fell victim to cryptojacking.
That same month, Kaspersky Lab reported that researchers had uncovered malware attacks being executed on cloud-based instant messaging service Telegram, for the purpose of illicit cryptocurrency mining.
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