Ever since the launch of Bitcoin, the blockchain industry has made significant strides. The new executive order issued this past March by Joe Biden, President of the United States, shows just how mature this market is. The total market capitalization hit $3 trillion in November 2021, an increase of 210 times since 2016.

However, as an emerging market, Crypto cannot avoid security holes. The market has gone through many precious lessons about security, including the 3 biggest hacks in the history of this industry:

Ronin Bridge

This is the largest hack in the history of Crypto, with a total value of stolen assets of $614 million at the time. The victim of the attack was Ronin Network.

Ronin is a sidechain or parallel network to Ethereum. Sky Mavis, the company behind the popular play-to-earn game Axie Infinity, developed Ronin in 2020 after finding that Ethereum's base layer was too slow and expensive to process all the transactions required for such a game.

On March 30, 2022, Ronin Network revealed that an attacker had stolen the private keys needed to validate transactions and transferred 173,600 Ethereum and 25.5 million USDT to his wallet. At the exchange rate at the time, the theft was worth $614 million. The hack was then discovered after a customer tried to make a regular withdrawal.

Shortly after, Sky Mavis announced that it had contacted the authorities, experts and investors to ensure the safety of users' assets, and track on-chain the number of stolen assets.

Recently, Binance has identified and recovered $5.8 million after an attacker attempted to transfer funds to the exchange through 86 different accounts. However, much of the stolen property has yet to be recovered. As of April 14, the attacker has successfully laundered about 18% of the stolen funds. The case is still being investigated and monitored.

Poly Network

The second biggest attack happened on Poly Network with a total loss of up to $611 million at the time of occurrence. The victim of the hack was Poly Network, a smart contract platform that allows users to trade tokens between different blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.

On August 10, 2021, a hacker transferred $611 million worth of Poly Network tokens to three wallets under his control. According to an analysis by Mudit Gupta, a security researcher, attackers have found a way to 'unlock' (i.e. buy) tokens on the Poly Network protocol without 'locking' (i.e. selling) the corresponding token on other blockchains.

Fortunately, the attacker had returned the tokens the next day. While some speculated that he could not sell or "launder" the stolen tokens, the person claiming to be the attacker said he only stole them "for fun".

Within a week, Poly Network announced all of the assets had been returned, except for the $33 million worth of Tether, which was frozen shortly after the attack.

Coincheck

The third shocking hack was the attack on the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, Coincheck in January 2018 with a total of $547 million worth of NEM tokens stolen. The company admitted that it stored assets in a 'hot wallet', that is, a cryptocurrency wallet that is connected to the internet and is therefore vulnerable to cyberattacks.

Immediately after the attack, 16 crypto exchanges in Japan had to assemble into a unified self-regulatory body. Japan's financial regulator, the Financial Services Association, has also ordered exchanges to report on their cybersecurity measures.

At that time, Coincheck was one of the most reputable major exchanges in Japan, and Japan was also one of the largest crypto markets. So far, the identity of the hacker has not been verified, but more than 30 people have been arrested in connection with the sale and purchase of the stolen properties.

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Above are the details of the top 3 crypto hacks with the greatest losses. Although blockchain technology has come a long way, it does not mean that cybercriminals are standing still. Every project, individual, or exchange must always remain vigilant in security. For retail investors, a very important security tip is to minimize the storage of digital assets on exchanges. Instead, your digital assets should be stored in personal wallets.

Understanding the importance of security, BHO Network is developing a crypto wallet helping users store their digital assets in the safest way. BHO Network's wallet is expected to be a secure crypto storage solution, with an easy-to-use and friendly interface. Moreover, the wallet will also support multi-chain, providing investors with a convenient as well as secure experience.