Hackers Landed $1.2 Billion in Bitcoin, Ether Thefts in 10 Years
The rise of bitcoin and attendant other cryptocurrencies—though recently hit by what amounted to a market crash in recent days—has been staggering by most any scope, recent word from Autonomous Research LLP is perhaps still more staggering. Essentially, hackers have seized 14 percent of all bitcoin and ether that ever was, landing fully $1.2 billion worth.
That number is also understating things somewhat, as it doesn’t figure in the recent massive explosion in bitcoin value. Thanks to the frantic developments in crypto hacking, as it’s known, Autonomous Research’s global director of fintech strategy Lex Sokolin projects that hackers are realizing around $200 million in annual revenue from such efforts.
The problem actually gets worse from there, according to word from WinterGreen Research, and it may be why so many governments have looked to cryptocurrency regulation in recent days. The various hacks involving cryptocurrency have cost governments and corporations around $11.3 billion in lost revenue thanks to “illegitimate transactions” and tax revenue not realized.
With investors starting to pile in in a big way—stage three of a bubble is “everybody”, and there are reports that that portion is only just getting started—and not exactly taking a lot of security measures to protect these investments, that may prompt more opportunity for hackers. The hacking market will likely be flush with potential until the cryptocurrency market ultimately consolidates into a handful of “winner” currencies.
With more initial coin offerings starting up at the rate of several a week, such a market development will likely be a while in coming. It’s still very early stages; the run-up really only started last year, so there are quite a few potential problems to work out, some that aren’t even really known about. What’s more, the overall underpinnings of cryptocurrency, the blockchain, may have problems of its own that aren’t yet fully known about.
This is a new market, with a lot of potential upside and almost as much potential downside. This makes many of the standard warnings about safety important, and the standard warning about “not investing more than you can afford to lose” even more vital. Cryptocurrency is a strange market; prepare accordingly.