This Is A List Of The 8 Biggest Crypto Thefts In Cryptocurrency History

List of the biggest crypto thefts in history. (Bitcoins)

JAKARTA – Crypto theft through hacking has become increasingly widespread in recent years. The hackers are not half-hearted in stealing crypto assets. Several companies in the cryptocurrency industry, both crypto exchanges (CEX) and decentralized financial platforms (DeFi) have also become victims of hackers.

Hundreds of millions of dollars have been stolen by hackers. One of the hacker groups that managed to steal crypto-assets is the Lazarus Group. The group is thought to be controlled by the North Korean government. Here is a list of the biggest cryptocurrency thefts in history:

1. Ronin Network (Axie Infinity) IDR 9.2 Trillion

Ronin Network is a crypto network based on the play-to-earn game Axie Infinity. From the end of 2021 to early 2022, the game Axie Infinity was booming because players were able to make wealth just by playing this game.

On March 29, 2022, Ronin Network had to lose 173,600 Ethereum (at that time it was worth about 595 million US dollars) and a total of 25.5 million US dollars. Total Ronin had to lose 620 million US dollars or equivalent to IDR 2.2 trillion. The perpetrators of the theft were allegedly carried out by a well-known hacker group from North Korea, namely the Lazarus Group.

2. Poly Network IDR 9 Trillion

The hack took place in August 2021. A hacker managed to break into the Poly Network security system. He later stole crypto assets worth more than 600 million US dollars. The other part is in the form of the stablecoin Tether amounting to 33 million USDT. Uniquely, this theft case ended peacefully. Poly Network party appealed to the hacker who claimed to be “Mr. White Hat” to return the stolen funds.

Mr. White Hat agreed to refund the Poly Network platform, but only partially. The Poly Network then asked for the remaining funds. Hackers provide residual funds but cannot be accessed by Poly Network. Then negotiations took place, in which Poly Network offered a ransom of US$500,000 if Mr. White Hat gives access.

Not long after, Poly Network revealed it had gained access from White Hat. Due to the incident, Poly Network asked White Hat to work for his company. The hacker agreed.

3. Coincheck IDR 7.5 Trillion

In January 2018, hackers stole cryptocurrency that was then worth about 530 million US dollars (IDR 7.5 trillion) from Tokyo-based exchange Coincheck. The thieves attacked one of Coincheck's crypto wallets - digital folders stored online - to drain funds, drawing attention to security on the exchange.

The hack raised questions in Japan about the regulation of the digital asset market. South Korea's intelligence agency said at the time that a North Korean hacker group may be behind the theft.

4. Mt Gox IDR 7.1 Trillion

In one of the earliest and most famous crypto hacks, some 200,000 Bitcoins worth nearly 500 million dollars were stolen and disappeared from the Mt.Gox exchange in Tokyo. Even at that time Mt. Gox, was the world's largest crypto exchange, in 2011 and 2014.

Mt.Gox, which once handled 80% of the world's bitcoin trades, filed for bankruptcy in early 2014 after the hack was exposed. As a result of the hack around 24,000 customers lost access to their funds.

5. Wormhole IDR 4.5 Trillion

The DeFi Wormhole site was hit with a $320 million theft last month, with hackers stealing 120,000 Ethereum (ETH).

The crypto arm of Chicago-based Jump Trading, which a year before acquired the developer behind Wormhole, later replaced the funds "to keep the community members intact and support the now growing Wormhole."

6. KuCoin IDR 4.1 Trillion

In September 2020, the KuCoin crypto exchange confirmed that hackers had managed to get their private keys to the crypto trading platform's crypto storage wallet. The hackers then withdrew large amounts of Ethereum (ETH) and bitcoin (BTC), as well as Bitcoin SV (BSV), Litecoin (LTC), XRP (XRP), Stellar Lumens (XLM), Tron (TRX), and Tether (USDT) in total. all of which are worth around US$281 million which is equivalent to IDR 4.1 trillion. Experts accuse the perpetrators of the theft by the hacker group Lazarus Group.

7. Pancake Bunny IDR 2.99 Trillion

In May 2021, decentralized finance (DeFi) platform PancakeBunny had lost 200 million US dollars to hackers taking advantage of crypto lending. In carrying out his attack, the hacker borrowed a large amount of BNB coins on another DeFi platform. Then he traded them for a large number of BUNNY tokens. It wasn't long before selling all of BUNNY's holdings and causing the price of PancakeBunny's tokens to plummet. The hacker then repaid his BNB loan on PancakeSwap.

8. BitMart IDR 2.8 Trillion

In December 2021, the global crypto exchange lost 196 million US dollars (equivalent to IDR 2.8 trillion). The theft was carried out in two stages, the first being 100 million US dollars stolen via the Ethereum network. Then the second theft was carried out on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) network worth 96 million US dollars. Hackers reportedly managed to steal around 20 crypto tokens including USD, BNB, BPAY, SAFEMOON, MOONSHOT, FLOKI, BABYDOGE, and many more.

This is the list of the biggest crypto thefts in history. Even so, many other hacking actions have not been recorded in this article.