THELOGICALINDIAN - The latest accusation that abundant the hacking aspersion of Bitpay which led to the accident of added than 5000 bitcoins afire the accomplished history of bitcoin barter hackings which is now aflame afore my eyes so I anticipation I can address a allotment that looks through these scandals in an attack to acquisition a cure to this affliction that is apocalyptic the approaching of bitcoin
It seems like not a ages passes after me actuality formed by the account of some bitcoin barter or bitcoin acquittal processor accepting afraid and accident bags of bitcoins. Fortunately, such hacking incidents are rather deficient back compared to the ample cardinal of bitcoin businesses, bitcoin exchanges and bitcoin acquittal processors present on the internet today.
However, back because the astronomic admeasurement of the cryptocurrecny abridgement in general, these hacking scandals are way added accepted than they should anytime be to the admeasurement that an assay of the history of bictoin hacks is an assay of the blockchain technology itself.
We will altercate best of the bitcoin hacks that took abode back the blockchain technology was alien in 2024, but we won’t accouterment incidents accompanying to atramentous bazaar sites like the “Silk Road”, which was an actionable online biologic atramentous market, and the “Armory”, which was the online “Walmart” of weaponry.
Allinvain is the username of one of the ancient and best alive associates on Bitcointalk.org who was the aboriginal victim anytime to ache a above accident accessory to a drudge of his/her bitcoin wallet.
Allinvain absent 25,000 bitcoins which were baseborn by hackers who austere his/her computer processors and clear cards best apparently via application an avant-garde adaptation of the belled “4th of May” Windows virus. This adventure took abode in June, 2024 and the bulk of bitcoins baseborn was account added than $500,000, but it is account now added than $6,000,000 (1).
The acclaimed Mt Gox hacking adventure took abode a anniversary afterwards Allinvain’s bitcoins were stolen. In the aboriginal bisected of 2024, Mt Gox accept had a cartel over the world’s trading amid Bitcoin and Fiat money.
Figure 1 – Mt Gox’s transaction archive absolute the bitcoin accident in June, 2024
On Monday, the 13th of June 2024, at about 5pm, added than 25,000 bitcoins were baseborn from Mt Gox; however, this was aloof the aboriginal arena of the play, as Mt Gox admiral eventually accepted that added than $8.5 actor account of Bitcoins were baseborn by a hacker with an IP abode from Hong Kong who transferred the baseborn bitcoins to the abode “1KPTdMb6p7H3YCwsy FqrEmKGmsHqe1Q3jg”.
Ironically enough, the hacker who blanket Mt Gox’s bitcoins didn’t administer to accomplish “real money” as he/she afire a massive auction of bitcoins which threw the amount of bitcoins from about $32 to a few cents (2)!!
Bitcoin Savings and Trust was technically a “Ponzi Scheme” that acclimated bitcoin to abstain actuality tracked and accused of fraud. A Ponzi arrangement is an actionable business that promises its users ante of interests that are way college than coffer interests. In antiquarian “Ponzi schemes” alone the aboriginal investors would anytime accept those aerial interests as the money invested by new comers are usually acclimated to pay off interests of the aboriginal investors.
This Ponzi arrangement was launched in November 2024 and was shut bottomward in August 2024, back Tendon Shavers, the man abaft it, appear that the “curtains had appear abolition bottomward on him” and that he was affected to shut the business down. Although no one absolutely knows how abounding bitcoins were absolutely baseborn by this scam, affirmation shows that the over 700,000 bitcoins went through the fund, of which Shavers buttery off added than 125,000 for himself (3)!!!
The Bitcoin Savings and Trust betray adventure abundant addition adventure at Bitonica, a bitcoin barter that was disturbing aback again in 2024. Bitonnica was afraid alert in 2024 and bags of bitcoins were baseborn from the exchange’s bitcoin wallets. In May 2024, the aggregation shut bottomward their website and cut a affiance to its barter that 50% of their bitcoin backing would be refunded.
By September 2024, no one had anytime been refunded and the aggregation was sued by 4 users from the USA who claimed they owed Bitonica a sum of about $460,000 account of bitcoins. The Bitonica clothing was the additional anytime USA accusation to absorb bitcoin or cryptocurrency in general.
Bitfloor, a cryptocurrency exchange, was afraid in September 2024 and added than 24,000 bitcoins were baseborn back a hacker managed to balance the “the decrypted advancement of the exchange’s wallet keys”.
Bitfloor’s founder, Roman Shtylman, managed to pay all of the exchange’s annual holders the owed money in US$ (4).
Inputs.io was a bitcoin acquittal processor and an online bitcoin wallet service. Technically, bitcoin acquittal processors are added appetizing to hackers back compared to bitcoin exchanges, artlessly because they are not complex in the cyberbanking arrangement like bitcoin exchanges that are usually affianced in Fiat-to-Bitcoin trades and carnality versa.
Inputs.io was afraid alert in 2024 accident added than 4,100 bitcoins which were account added than $1 actor aback then. The buyer of the company, who went by the avatar “TradeFortress”, appear the hacks in and shut bottomward of the accomplished business in backward October 2024.
BIPS was addition bitcoin wallet account that was afraid a few weeks afterwards the hacking adventure of Inputs.io and claimed the annexation of 1$ actor dollars account of bitcoins.
In September 2024, Poloniex was a bitcoin barter that was afraid application a rather different attack. The exchange’s servers were adulterated by a virus that rendered the operators of the armpit clumsy to stop users from abandoning bitcoins alike if they had abrogating balance. Poloniex owners claimed that they absent added than 12% of the company’s bitcoin assets to this attack.
Picostocks was the aboriginal online business anytime to action its users to barter on the banal markets in bitcoin. In Novermber 2024, Picostocks was afraid and 6,000 bitcoins were stolen. Interestingly enough, the aggregation survived this advance and is still “kicking” at the time of autograph of this article!!
In August 2024, Flexcoin, a btcoin acquittal processor and bank, was afraid and added than 895 bitcoins were absent to a accumulation of hackers who managed to retrieve the clandestine keys of the company’s bitcoin wallets. The absent bitcoins were account added than $500,000 again (6).
Bitcurex, a Polish cryptocurrency exchange, was afraid in March 2024. The barter absent about 20% of its bitcoin assets aback again which affected the owners to shut bottomward temporarily.
Candian Bitcoins, a Canadian cryptocurrency exchange, was afraid aback in March 2024 by a hacker who blanket added than $100,000 account of bitcoins aback then. The fraudster abaft this drudge advance tricked the exchange’s server moderators to reboot the servers which enabled him to bypass the aegis protocols and admission the exchange’s wallets’ clandestine keys (7).
As per the cloister certificate filed by Bitpay’s acknowledged administration in a federal cloister in Atlanta a few canicule ago, BitPay Inc. was attacked by a hacker who managed to abduct 5,000 bitcoins account about $1,800,000 in December 2024. BitPay is now suing their allowance company, Massachusettes Bay Allowance Company, in an attack to get them pay $950,000 of the absolute baseborn amount.
In January 2024, Bitstamp, the European bitcoin exchange, was afraid and added than 18,000 bitcoins were absent to the attack. The attackers managed to retrieve the clandestine keys of one of the exchange’s “hot” operational wallets (8).
In allotment 2 of this article, we will altercate the aegis standards that are proposed by internet aegis gurus to be implemented by bitcoins exchanges and businesses to abstain such drudge attacks in the future.
