{"id":1177755,"date":"2022-01-01T12:34:55","date_gmt":"2022-01-01T17:34:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1177755"},"modified":"2022-01-01T12:34:58","modified_gmt":"2022-01-01T17:34:58","slug":"2021-the-year-cryptocurrency-heists-went-nuclear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/2021-the-year-cryptocurrency-heists-went-nuclear\/","title":{"rendered":"2021: The Year Cryptocurrency Heists Went Nuclear"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2F2021-the-year-cryptocurrency-heists-went-nuclear%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1177755&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Hackers-Hacking-Reuters.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology reached even greater heights of popularity in 2021, but it was also the year that hackers began to take full advantage of digital cryptocurrency exchanges stealing hundreds of millions of dollars throughout the year, including a single heist that totaled an amazing $600 million in stolen crypto.<\/p>\n<p>Breitbart News has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/tech\/2021\/12\/20\/forget-banks-hackers-stole-100-million-in-six-different-cryptocurrency-exchange-attacks\/\">previously reported<\/a> that thefts of cryptocurrency are on the rise, in just the last year there have been at least 20 hacks in which thieves stole at least $10 million worth of digital currency and six above $100 million. This is a stark contrast to traditional bank robbers who made less than $5 thousand during this time period, according to data from the <a href=\"https:\/\/crime-data-explorer.app.cloud.gov\/pages\/downloads\">FBI\u2019s annual crime stats report.<\/a><\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Cryptocurrency exchanges are becoming increasingly popular as the primary way to buy and sell digital currencies. However, they may be more vulnerable than consumers think.&nbsp;Cryptocurrency exchanges are often run by small teams attempting to manage many users. Exchanges regularly keep access to some of their cryptocurrencies in what is called \u201ccold wallets,\u201d which cannot be accessed without physical possession and must remain offline at all times for security purposes. But the rest is often stored in \u201chot wallet\u201d systems in order to be sent out immediately to users when needed.<\/p>\n<p>2021 saw some of the largest cryptocurrency hacks to date.&nbsp;This year was one of the worst on record for cryptocurrency hacks and robberies, with around 32 incidents reported amounting to approximately $2.99 billion in associated losses, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/markets.businessinsider.com\/news\/currencies\/cryptocurrency-hacks-fraud-cases-record-bitcoin-ethereum-wallets-breaches-defi-2021-8\">report<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptohead.io\/research\/crypto-breaches-and-fraud\/\">Crypto Head<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Here are just a few of the largest cryptocurrency exchange hacks in 2021:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Bitmart: $150 Million<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The popular crypto exchange Bitmart <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theregister.com\/2021\/12\/06\/bitmart_breach\/\">faced a major loss<\/a> in December 2021 after it lost $150 million in cryptocurrency. Bitmart issued a statement one day stating that it would&nbsp;be \u201ctemporarily suspending withdrawals until further notice\u201d after discovering a \u201clarge-scale security breach\u201d connected to two \u201chot wallets.\u201d Unfortunately, the damage was done and the cryptocurrency was lost.<\/p>\n<p>The cybersecurity firm that initially discovered the incident, Peckshield, described the hacks as a \u201cpretty straightforward: transfer-out, swap, and wash.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Poly Network: $600 Million<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On August 10, the Poly Network was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2021\/08\/13\/poly-network-hack-nearly-all-of-600-million-in-crypto-returned.html\">hacked<\/a> resulting in a loss of $600 million worth of investors\u2019 money in one of the largest windfall thefts in cryptocurrency history. Poly\u2019s leadership panicked and immediately published a letter in which they begged the hacker for the money back<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cDear Hacker,\u201d the letter&nbsp;began. \u201cWe want to establish communication with you and urge you to return the hacked assets. The amount of money you hacked is the biggest one in DeFi history. Law enforcement in any country will regard this as a major economic crime and you will be pursued. It is very unwise for you to do any further transactions. The money you stole are from tens of thousands of crypto community members, hence the people. You should talk to us to work out a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Surprisingly, the letter actually worked. The hacker began to return funds to the Poly Network, claiming that they only hacked the exchange for fun and to reveal how poor its security was. By the end of August, all of the money had been returned.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Vulcan Forged: $140 Million<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Vulcan Forged, a company that manages a number of crypto services and products including a DeFi platform and NFT market, <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptobriefing.com\/nft-marketplace-vulcan-forged-hacked-for-140m\/\">faced a major hack<\/a> in December losing $140 million. The hacker reportedly obtained access to the private keys of the 96 wallets owned by the platform and stole all of the money stored within.<\/p>\n<p>The hacker reportedly stole an average of $1.46 million per wallet. Vulcan surprisingly refunded all lost money to investors, likely in an effort to regain their trust following the major breach.<\/p>\n<p>These are just a handful of the largest cryptocurrency hacks in 2021. As cryptocurrency continues to become increasingly popular, it\u2019s likely that we\u2019ll see more stories like this in the coming years. You can keep track of these at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/tech\/\">Breitbart Tech here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"Component-root-0-2-107 paragraph-0-2-12\"><strong><i>Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter&nbsp;<\/i><i><a class=\"x5l\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/lucasnolan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">@LucasNolan<\/a>&nbsp;<\/i><i>or contact via secure email at the address&nbsp;<a class=\"x5l\" href=\"mailto:lucasnolan@protonmail.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">lucasnolan@protonmail.com<\/a><\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cryptocurrency and blockchain technology reached even greater heights of popularity in 2021, but it was also the year that hackers began to take full advantage of digital cryptocurrency exchanges stealing &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":1893966,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1177755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1177755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1177755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1893966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1177755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1177755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1177755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}