One of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world Crypto.com hacked and halted withdrawals without a plausible explanation and many in the crypto feared that its crypto wallets were compromised. The fears turned out to be true as the Crypto.com finally admitted to the hack. However, the damages were contained according to the exchange and it remains committed to compensating the victims of the hack itself.
According to a rough estimate, around $34 million worth of digital currencies were stolen from over 483 wallets during this latest hack that occurred on Monday. The exchange remained tight lipped on the matter and many correctly predicted that it was hacked and was only doing damage control. The American exchange service also paused withdrawals during this time that further fueled speculation regarding its security status.
After more than 3 days of not admitting to the hack and terming it “suspicious activity” Crypto.com finally opened up about the episode and tweeted:
Following the 17th of Jan security incident, we are sharing our findings below, together with enhancements we’ve made to our security infrastructure and the introduction of the Worldwide Account Protection Program. https://t.co/6q86r0o59V pic.twitter.com/ER7DkBoX1Z
— Crypto.com (@cryptocom) January 20, 2022
According to the official statement,
“4,836.26 ETH, 443.93 BTC and approximately US$66,200 in other currencies”
were stolen from wallets of different users. That brings the total value of the Crypto.com hack amount lost to be around $34 million at press time.
This is not the first time a big cryptocurrency exchange has been hacked but it has been the first major such activity in the last year or so. Binance, Bitfinex, Coinbase, Kraken, etc all have been hacked at one point and have lost billions of dollars worth of crypto.
While both the number of hacks and amount involved has decreased over time to new lows, the latest episode shows that no matter how secure, exchange funds are always in danger of being targeted as some wallets are at least connected directly to the internet and are thus, vulnerable. Exchanges have successfully tried different methods to stop or curtail access to such hot wallets.
As a result, the amount involved in these hacks, including the Crypto.com hack is quite less overall than past examples in which over hundreds of millions of dollars worth of crypto were stolen from users in a single breach. But, there is still room for a lot of improvement in the area as even the top exchange platforms like crypto.com aren’t immune from these cyber incursions. Crypto.com exchange’s behaviour also raised significant question marks regarding its ability to manage crises effectively. It should have tried to come clean as early as possible and showed high level of transparency, something the crypto sector inspires to do so but they weren’t able to break free from their centralized shells.
Image Source: pixabay.com
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