{"id":55635,"title":"Hackers Have Looted More Bitcoin Than Satoshi’s Entire Stash","publisher":"Share Talk","author":"sharetalk","published":"2019-05-25T13:43:05+00:00","modified":"2019-05-25T13:43:05+00:00","canonical_url":"https://www.share-talk.com/hackers-have-looted-more-bitcoin-than-satoshis-entire-stash/","markdown_url":"https://www.share-talk.com/hackers-have-looted-more-bitcoin-than-satoshis-entire-stash.md","json_url":"https://www.share-talk.com/hackers-have-looted-more-bitcoin-than-satoshis-entire-stash.json","category":"Fintech","categories":["Fintech","Investment Reports"],"tags":["Bitcoin","BTC","Crypto Exchange","Hackers","Heists","Satoshi","stolen"],"featured_image":"https://i0.wp.com/www.share-talk.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Stencil-Google-Chrome-2023-04-19-at-2.47.43-PM.jpeg?fit=1231%2C615&quality=89&ssl=1","format":"news","language":"en-GB","content":"Ever since cryptocurrencies started gaining value, hackers have targeted exchanges that provide digital asset trading and malicious entities have siphoned billions of dollars worth of bitcoin since 2011.\n\nSo far, over 1 million of the world’s BTC has been stolen from exchanges and traders continue to leave vast quantities of funds on centralized trading platforms.\n\n \n\n**Hackers Love to Profit from People Leaving Funds on Centralized Crypto Exchanges**\n\nOver the years, hackers have managed to make a lucrative career stealing cryptocurrencies from exchanges. Exchanges have seen digital intruders loot wallets since 2010 and crypto trading platforms are still being compromised in 2019.\n\nLast year, according to Chainalysis data, hackers managed to generate over $1 billion in revenue from simply robbing crypto exchanges. Moreover, Chainalysis explained in January 2019 that [only two major hacking groups](https://news.bitcoin.com/report-two-hacker-groups-stole-1-billion-from-crypto-exchanges/) were the culprits to most of 2018’s exchange hacks. It’s unclear exactly how many bitcoins have been stolen but over the last 10 years, it’s estimated that more than 1 million BTC, has been pilfered from exchanges.\n\nThe amount of snatched coins is roughly around the same number of [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC) that Satoshi Nakamoto may possess and probably much more. Moreover, two of the biggest hacks make up most of the [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC) stolen over the last 8 years. Roughly 650,000 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC) was taken from Mt. Gox back in 2014 and [120,000 BTC](https://old.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/4vupa6/p2shinfo_shows_movement_out_of_multisig_wallets/d61oe33/) were stolen from Bitfinex in 2016. This means that more than 770,000 of the looted [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC) also gives the hackers 770,000 [BCH](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BCH) as well. Essentially, this means that there’s been more than $7.7 billion dollars worth of [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC) stolen at today’s exchange rates. All of those funds were taken prior to the [BCH](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BCH) fork so after August 1, 2017, the hackers who stole 770,000+ [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC) managed to acquire $303 million in [BCH](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BCH) as well.\n\n \n\n**A Look at Some of the Biggest Crypto Exchange Heists Since 2011**\n\nBack in 2011, Mt. Gox lost bitcoins well before they misplaced a great percentage of the total supply. On June 19, 2011, the exchange said they had lost [$8.7 million](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mt._Gox) worth of [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC) due to a “security breach.” At the time, in order to prove the exchange was solvent, the firm moved 424,242 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC) into cold storage, which can be seen in [block 132749](https://www.blockchain.com/btc/block-height/132749). Then the exchange also misplaced approximately 2,609 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC) by sending them to an unspendable address. The now-defunct exchange is also notorious for losing 850,000 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC) in 2014 and allegedly the trading platform’s CEO Mark Karpeles [found 200,000](https://www.engadget.com/2014/03/20/mt-gox-apparently-found-200-000-bitcoin-in-an-old-wallet-shoul/) of the missing coins after the exchange went under. The remaining 200,000 coins were to be dispersed to all the account holders who lost money, but the distribution process has been held up for years.\n\n \n\n![](https://www.share-talk.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/bitcoin7-1068x593-300x167.png)\n\n \n\nMost people don’t remember the trading platform Bitcoin7, but at one time the operation was the third largest exchange in 2011. Back on Oct. 5, 2011, the exchange said they [lost 5,000 BTC](https://siliconangle.com/2011/10/07/bitcoin7-hacked-funds-recovery-requires-sensitive-personal-information/) or $39 million at today’s exchange rates. The loss of 5,000 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC) was too much for Bitcoin7 to handle and the exchange never re-opened. Even though the company had promised to reimburse users, the restitution process never came to fruition and the website went dark. In 2012, during the [Linode hack](https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/03/bitcoins-worth-228000-stolen-from-customers-of-hacked-webhost/), crypto enthusiasts saw an estimated total of 46,653 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC) stolen from a total of 8 crypto-related businesses such as [Tradehill](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/TradeHill) and [Bitcoinica](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Bitcoinica). The same year Bitcoinica was hacked twice losing 38,000 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC) in May and then in July, the platform lost another 40,000 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC). In September 2012, the trading platform Bitfloor [lost](https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/bitfloor-hacked-250000-missing-1346821046/) 24,000 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC) during a security breach.\n\n \n\n![](https://www.share-talk.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/bitcoin7-1068x593-1-300x167.png)\n\n \n\n2013 saw plenty of bitcoins stolen that year as the [Vircurex Exchange Hack](https://vircurex.com/Reports/2013-05.pdf) saw the loss of 1,666 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC), and the platform Bitmarket.eu [exit scammed](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5441.msg1413156#msg1413156) with $400 million worth of [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC). In October of 2013, GBL Exchange also [ran off](https://www.businessinsider.com/bitcoin-exchange-gbl-holding-41-billion-vanishes-2013-11) with customers coins stealing 9,640 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC). The digital currency payment provider BIPS had a security breach which saw the loss of 1,295 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC). 2014 was no different as crypto advocates saw the major Mt. Gox hack but also saw [Cryptsy lose 13,000 BTC](https://news.bitcoin.com/vanished-cryptsy-ceo-big-vern-ordered-to-pay-8m-in-class-action-lawsuit/) and [Mintpal lost 3,894 BTC](https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-exchange-thefts-forgotten/). Then in 2015, the Bitstamp hot wallet was [siphoned](https://www.coindesk.com/bitstamp-claims-roughly-19000-btc-lost-hot-wallet-hack) for 19,000 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC), 796 Exchange saw 1,000 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC) stolen, and the Bitfinex hot wallet lost 1,500 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC).\n\n \n\n![](https://www.share-talk.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/bitcoin7-1068x593-2-300x180.png)\n\n \n\nThe very next year, Bitfinex saw an [even bigger loss](https://news.bitcoin.com/bitfinex-bail-haircut-btc-traders/) when hackers stole 119,756 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC). A few months later, Bitcurex lost 2,300 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC). During the bull run in 2017, there were plenty of exchange losses when Yapizon lost 3,831 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC), hackers stole $31 million from Bithumb, and Btc-e [exited](https://news.bitcoin.com/10-days-that-shook-the-world-of-bitcoin/) with 66,000 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC). In 2018, [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC)Global scammed people out of $50 million and Gainbitcoin ran away with $300 million. In April 2018, the Indian exchange Coinsecure lost 438 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC) and in September, the Japanese crypto exchange Zaif was hacked for 913 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC). The following month Maplechange [stole](https://ethereumworldnews.com/maplechange-crypto-exchange-hacked-for-913-bitcoin-btc-exit-scam-likely/) customer funds swiping 913 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC). At the end of the year, Electroneum users saw 250 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC) stolen from them.\n\n \n\n**More Than $8.2 Billion Worth of [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC) Stolen Since 2011**\n\n2019 is not over but users are still losing funds left and right on centralized trading platforms. It’s estimated that around $140 to $200 million worth of crypto was lost during the Quadrigacx mishap, and just recently, Binance suffered a hack as well when 7,000 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC) was stolen. Out of all the exchanges and third party service providers, mentioned hackers managed to steal 1,058,658 [BTC](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BTC) ($8.2 billion) in total and that’s just skimming the surface of big exchange hacks. The $8.2 billion also doesn’t account for the massive number of [BCH](https://markets.bitcoin.com/crypto/BCH) tied to at least 2/3 of the funds looted. The number of coins swiped from exchanges far exceeds Satoshi’s stash and people continue to leave their funds on centralized platforms. The 1 million coins out of 21 million in circulation that hackers have managed to rob is a great reminder to why cryptocurrencies should not be left on exchanges.\n\nAt Bitcoin.com we know people like to trade fiat for cryptos and that’s why we created [Local.Bitcoin.com,](https://local.bitcoin.com/) where user funds are never stored on our servers. Our peer-to-peer exchange will launch on June 4, 2019, but you can create an account today and even set up a trade for when the platform goes live. The more [peer-to-peer exchanges](https://local.bitcoin.com/) that facilitate trades in a noncustodial fashion, the better because most crypto enthusiasts are tired of hearing about trading platforms losing millions.\n\n \n\n*Image credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, and Archive.org.*\n\nSource Link [news.bitcoin.com/hackers](https://news.bitcoin.com/hackers-have-looted-more-bitcoin-than-satoshis-entire-stash/)\n\n "}