Major Crypto Heists in 2021

| Updated: 30 December, 2021 5:53 pm IST

NEW DELHI: Crypto Market could be the next generation of financial market but the cybercriminals didn’t spare this space too. According to reports, cyber criminals stole around $ 7.7 Billion (59,000 crore approx.) worth of cryptocurrencies from investors in 2021. This is more than three times the crypto stolen in 2020.

Around $ 1.4 Billion worth of crypto was stolen this year through Decentralised Finance breach only.

  • Poly Network

In August 2021, Hackers pulled off one of the biggest crypto heists by stealing more than $600 Millions in digital coins from token-swapping platform Poly Network. A White Hat hacker pulled this heist exposing the security hole in the cross-chain smart contracts used in the company.

Poly Network is a Decentralised Finance(DeFi) Platform that allows users to lend, borrow and trade cryptocurrencies.

  • Vulcan Forged

In December 2021, Play to Earn NFT token Vulcan Forged said it refunded over $140 million worth of crypto to all investors a day after its platform was compromised. 9% of all available PYR tokens (4.5 million PYR) were stolen from the platform.

  • Squid Game token

Investors lost millions of dollars in minutes after a new cryptocurrency inspired by Squid Game (a Netflix series) witnessed its value go down to nearly zero within hours. Crypto Exchange platform Binance initiated a probe in this potential ‘rug pull’ case. A ‘rug pull’ case is a malicious maneuver in the cryptocurrency industry where crypto developers abandon a project and run away with investors’ funds. It is estimated that the creators of the platform have vanished with $3.3 million (roughly Rs 22 crore).

  • Bitmart

In December 2021, part of the cryptographic pair- a key that is kept a top secret was stolen which enabled hackers to breach security of two hot wallets belonging to Bitmart crypto exchange.

Announcing this loss on Twitter, the company said, “$100 million of the loss was on the Ethereum blockchain, which has been targeted most frequently in the biggest hacks this year.”

  • Cream Finance

In October 2021, hackers managed to steal all liquid assets the platform owned on Ethereum Blockchain. The company put out a statement saying, “the vulnerability has been patched with the help of the community and other blockchain assets weren’t affected.”

However, the company announced compensation for all affected users from their own pockets, funded by their team’s allocation of tokens.

  • MonoX

In December 2021, hackers stole around $31 million by hacking into multi-chain decentralised finance (DeFi) MonoX. The DeFi platform is focused on developing infrastructure and products in order to simplify the overall use of blockchains and crypto. Among the funds lost were $18.2 million in Ethereum and $10.5 million in Matic.

Also Read Story

Gangster-Politician Ansari dies of heart attack; Family alleges poisoning

Triangular contest in Wayanad as K Surendran joins election

Kejriwal accuses ED investigation of corruption

Chirag Paswan inherits Hajipur, transfers legacy to brother-in-law in Jamui