Top Cryptocurrency Heists in History

Discover history's most daring and notorious cryptocurrency heists with our in-depth analysis. Uncover the stories behind the biggest digital heists, explore hackers' techniques, and learn valuable lessons to protect your crypto assets. Stay informed and stay secure in the ever-evolving world of cryptocurrencies.
Figure 01. The Top 5 Biggest Crypto Heists in History.
Ronin Network lost $620 million in 2022, mostly from ETH. This is the biggest crypto theft of all time. Ronin Network is a crypto gaming network. The US Treasury Department credited the theft to North Korea’s Lazarus group, as reported by Reuters.
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In 2021, a hacker stole approximately $600 million worth of digital tokens from Poly Network as reported by CNBC. Poly Network is a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform. The hacker known as "Mr White Hat" returned everything except for $33 million in Tether (USDT) that had been frozen.
In 2022, hackers stole $570 million from Binance’s BNB chain. CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, mentioned that cross-chain bridges are extremely vulnerable to hackers, as reported by the NY Times. These stolen tokens were frozen, so nearly $110 million were unrecoverable.
In 2018, hackers stole $530 million worth of NEM (XEM) tokens from the Japanese cryptocurrency Coincheck. Coincheck later revealed that the hackers were able to gain access to their system due to a staffing deficit at the time.
From 2011 to 2014, over 850,000 Bitcoin were stolen, making this the biggest theft of Bitcoins from an exchange. MT Gox claimed some technical issues made them vulnerable to hackers. Ultimately, MT Gox went into bankruptcy.
Hackers stole nearly $330 million, ranking as one of the largest hacks of DeFi. The attacker used minted tokens to claim ETH on the Ethereum side of the bridge by exploiting a mint function of the Wormhole bridge to create 120,000-wrapped Ethereum.
In September 2020, KuCoin reported that hackers had obtained private keys to their hot wallets, resulting in the withdrawal of $275 million from various coins, including Ethereum, Bitcoin, and more. North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group was accused of committing the theft.
In 2018, roughly $230 million was stolen, although the back details were not confirmed until 2022. According to ZachXBT on Twitter, the heist happened in April 2018 and was carried out by North Korean hackers.
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In 2021, hackers stole $200 million from PancakeBunny in a flash loan attack. The hackers loaned a large sum of Binance Coin (BNB) before manipulating its price and selling it on PancakeBunny's BUNNY/BNB market.
In December 2021, Bitmart's hot wallet was hacked to the tune of about $200 million. At first, $100 million was stolen via the Ethereum blockchain, but an additional $96 million was stolen from the Binance Smart Chain blockchain.
With the rise in popularity of crypto, it has also attracted scammers and hackers. Since crypto is digital and large sums can be transferred anonymously, hackers have found it easier to steal virtual currencies than traditional cash.
Figure 02. How to prevent Crypto Scams with 6 steps.
Do your research, folks. Do due diligence before investing in any project to avoid scams.
Double-check the URLs of websites.