Infographic: An Overview of Compromised Bitcoin Exchange Events
BITCOIN MAGAZINE
By Staff
This list below includes the most significant bitcoin exchange compromises (occurring through hacks, mismanagement, etc.) as if they all happened with a standard bitcoin price, to provide a better understanding of their relative magnitude.
If plotted, the x-axis would plot the price of bitcoin at the time of each compromise, while the y-axis plots the amount of BTC lost in each compromise. The size of each compromise circle also represents the amount of BTC lost without adjusting for the specific price at the time.
Check out the original article link at the end of this post to see the infographic visualization of these significant bitcoin exchange compromises.
The first collapse, Mt. Gox, in March 2014, was later documented by blockchain analyst Kim Nilsson of Pivigo. The biggest collapses from the article are listed here, starting with Mt. Gox.
Mt. Gox
Amount Lost: 790,000+ BTC
In March 2014, Mt. Gox declared bankruptcy due to a series of hacks and thefts that went unreported for over three years, which were later documented by blockchain analyst Kim Nilsson. The final collapse resulted in a crash of bitcoin in 2014. Below is a summary of all meaningful hacks that occurred:
On March 1, 2011, 80,000 BTC were stolen from Mt. Gox’s hot wallet, as thieves were able to make a copy of the wallet.dat file. In May 2011, hackers stole 300,000 BTC temporarily stored in an off-site wallet, which was on an unsecured, publicly accessible network drive. However, shortly after, the thieves got nervous and returned the stolen funds with a 1 percent (3,000 BTC) “keeper’s fee.” In June 2011, a hacker was able to get into Jed McCaleb’s administrator account and manipulate prices, temporarily crashing the market. After the ordeal was over, the hacker managed to steal 2,000 BTC.
In September 2011, a hacker was able to get read-write access to Mt. Gox’s database. The hacker created new accounts on the exchange, inflated user balances and was able to withdraw 77,500 BTC, after which they deleted most of the logs containing evidence of such transactions. In October 2011, a bug in Mark Karpelès’s new wallet software caused 2,609 BTC to be sent to an unspendable null key. The largest hack occurred by 2013, when a hacker was able to obtain a copy of Mt. Gox’s wallet.dat file and stole 630,000 BTC.
Bitfinex
Date: August 2016
Amount Lost: 120,000 BTC
Attackers were able to exploit a vulnerability in the multisig wallet architecture of Bitfinex and blockchain security company BitGo.
Bitcoinica
Date: March 1, 2012
Amount Lost: 43,000 BTC (and then another 18,457 BTC)
Web hosting provider Linode’s servers were hacked, granting access to the bitcoin stored on pioneering exchange Bitcoinica. The incidents ultimately led to the demise of Bitcoinica.
QuadrigaCX
Date: December 2018
Amount Lost: 26,350 BTC
The co-founder of QuadrigaCX died on December 9, 2018, allegedly as the only person with access to the exchange’s keys. Courtroom proceedings have revealed fund mismanagement and potential fraud on the part of the exchange.
BitFloor
Date: September 2012
Amount Lost: 24,000 BTC
BitFloor was compromised when a hacker was able to access unencrypted backups of the exchange’s wallets and transfer out the funds.
Pivigo is a part of the investment portfolio of Merian Ventures, a venture firm founded by Alexsis de Raadt St. James that invests in women-founded and co-founded tech innovation in the US and UK.