Ecosyste.ms: Awesome

An open API service indexing awesome lists of open source software.

Awesome Lists | Featured Topics | Projects

https://github.com/nurkiewicz/crypto-hall-of-shame

Scams, hacks and fails of cryptocurrencies
https://github.com/nurkiewicz/crypto-hall-of-shame

bitcoin cryptocurrency ethereum

Last synced: about 1 month ago
JSON representation

Scams, hacks and fails of cryptocurrencies

Awesome Lists containing this project

README 

        
Motto: https://twitter.com/BenLaurie/status/1222136573980037121[_Because there's no way you could do that with a fucking database. Jesus._]



# Curated list of scams, hacks and fails of cryptocurrencies



Pull requests with more events, sources and corrections are welcome!



[%header]

|===

| Date | Event | Value



| 2022-02-02

| https://blockworks.co/in-second-largest-defi-hack-ever-blockchain-bridge-loses-320m-ether/[In Second Largest DeFi Hack Ever, Blockchain Bridge Loses $320M Ether]



"_Wormhole, one of the largest bridges between Solana and other blockchains, has been hacked for about $320 million, or 120,000 ether — making it the second largest DeFi hack to date_"

| $320M



| 2022-02-01

| https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dg5xq/nft-collector-iloveponzi-loses-valuable-ape-nfts-to-hackers-is-upset[NFT Collector 'ILovePonzi' Loses Valuable Ape NFTs to Hackers, Is Upset]



"_Hackers tricked a collector of JPEGs depicting apes and mutants (also known as NFTs) to give them control of their digital art, and sold them for more than half a million dollars_"

| $700k



| 2022-01-30

| https://www.reddit.com/r/ethereum/comments/sfz4kw/did_i_just_lose_half_a_million_dollars_by_sending/[Did I just lose half a million dollars by sending WETH to WETH's contract address?]



"_He sent ETH to the WETH contract, received WETH as expected. Then he wanted to do the reverse and sent WETH, but will not receive anything_"

| $500k



| 2022-01-28

| https://therecord.media/qubit-finance-platform-hacked-for-80-million-worth-of-cryptocurrency/[Qubit Finance platform hacked for $80 million worth of cryptocurrency]



"_A threat actor has used an exploit to steal approximately $80 million from Qubit Finance, a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform that allows users to loan and speculate on cryptocurrency price variations._"

| $80M



| 2022-01-18

| https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/01/18/cryptocoms-stolen-ether-being-laundered-via-tornado-cash/[Crypto.com’s Stolen Ether Being Mixed Through Tornado Cash]



"_The $15 million in ether (4,600 ETH) stolen from Singapore-based Crypto.com is currently being "mixed," or moved to obscure destinations making it harder to track, via Tornado Cash, an Ethereum mixer_"

| $15M



| 2022-01-17

| https://twitter.com/garybrannan/status/1482866885989478411[We won the auction for €2.66M]



"_a bunch of cryptobros just spent €2.6 MILLION - 100x the asking price - for a book at auction in the mistaken belief that they would therefore own the copyright in it_"

| $2.6M



| 2021-12-05

| https://twitter.com/peckshield/status/1467302620000043013[Here is the list of the transferred-out assets and their amounts]



"_Estimate loss of @BitMartExchange ~$100M_"

| $100M



| 2021-08-11

| https://therecord.media/hacker-steals-600-million-from-poly-network-in-biggest-cryptocurrency-hack-ever/[Hacker steals $600 million from Poly Network in biggest ever cryptocurrency hack]



"_Once the attack was discovered, Poly Network disclosed the incident to the public and asked for the help of the cryptocurrency community, begging mining platforms and exchanges to track the hacker’s movements and freeze their accounts_"

| $600M



| 2021-07-23

| https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/112308/thorchain-suffers-8-million-loss-by-hacker-wanting-to-teach-lesson[Thorchain suffers $8 million loss by hacker wanting to 'teach lesson']



"_the platform was exploited for $8 million as the hacker was able to trick the network into thinking they had deposited a range of funds, when they hadn’t, and then somehow getting a refund_"

| $8M



| 2021-06-28

| https://cryptoslate.com/safedollar-stablecoin-drops-to-0-following-248000-defi-exploit-on-polygon/[SafeDollar ‘stablecoin’ drops to $0 following $248,000 DeFi exploit on Polygon]



"_SafeDollar’s price—which was supposed to always be equal to $1 since it’s a stablecoin—has plummeted to zero, according to the protocol’s own website_"

| $248k



| 2021-04-27

| https://www.wired.com/story/bitcoin-fog-dark-web-cryptocurrency-arrest/[Feds Arrest an Alleged $336M Bitcoin-Laundering Kingpin]



"_Russian-Swedish administrator behind that long-running anonymizing system and charged him with laundering hundreds of millions of dollars worth of bitcoins, much of which was sent to or from dark web drug markets_"

| $336M



| 2021-01-17

| https://twitter.com/ercwl/status/1350881938450608132[Dr. Vaezi a.k.a. "Dr Bitcorn"]



"_Massive electricity outages have led to the government burning "mazut" to keep the lights on around Tehran. Now, the regime have been pressured to admit the outages are connected to bitcoin mining_"

|



| 2020-09-03

| https://www.cryptopolitan.com/defi-hotdog-token-drop-from-4000-to-1/[DeFi Hotdog token gets burnt, dropped from $4,000 to $1 within five minutes]



"_things got sour for HotdogSwap, as the traders began pulling out, taking advantage of the fat price as early adopters which probably resulted in the nosediving of Hotdog token in price_"

| 



| 2020-08-13

| https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/13/yam_cryptocurrency_bug_governance/[Single-line software bug causes fledgling YAM cryptocurrency to implode just two days after launch]



"_It's not as if cryptocurrency investors couldn't have seen this coming. The project's GitHub repo states explicitly that there's been no audit of the code._"

| $525M



| 2020-06-10

| https://decrypt.co/31830/someone-just-made-a-2-6-million-mistake-on-ethereum[Someone just made a $2.6 million mistake on Ethereum]



"_likely reason is that this unfortunate individual intended to send $2.6 million in ETH with $100 worth of fees, but accidentally switched the two fields_"

| $2.6M



| 2020-01-27

| https://thenextweb.com/news/bitcoin-gold-51-percent-attack-blockchain-reorg-cryptocurrency-binance-exchange[Bitcoin Gold hit by 51% attacks, $72K in cryptocurrency double-spent]



"_Malicious cryptocurrency miners took control of Bitcoin Gold‘s blockchain recently to double-spend $72,000 worth of BTG. Bad actors assumed a majority of the network‘s processing power (hash rate) to re-organize the blockchain twice_"

| $72K



| 2019-08-05

| https://gizmodo.com/one-of-the-worlds-largest-crypto-exchanges-binance-ha-1834600280[One of the World's Largest Crypto Exchanges, Binance, Hacked to the Tune of $40 Million]



"_Cryptocurrency trading hub Binance [...] lost about 7,000 Bitcoins (around $40 million) to hackers after its so-called “hot wallet,” i.e. one connected to the internet and used to process transactions, was breached_"

| $40M



| 2019-08-02

| https://finance.yahoo.com/news/co-owner-shuttered-polish-cryptocurrency-153633551.html[Co-owner of shuttered Polish crypto exchange Bitmarket found dead]



"Police are investigating the death of Tobiasz Niemiro, a Polish entrepreneur and co-owner of cryptocurrency exchange Bitmarket, which closed on July 8 under suspicious circumstances. [...] More than 400 investors allegedly lost a total of 2300 bitcoin (worth approximately $23 million,)"

| $23M



| 2019-07-25

| https://fortune.com/2019/04/25/bitfinex-tether-bitcoin/[Bitcoin Tumbles After Officials Allege $850 Million Fraud]



"_New York’s attorney general accused the owners of a prominent exchange, Bitfinex, of using illicit transactions to mask $850 million in missing funds._"

| $850M



| 2019-03-29

| https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2019/03/30/crypto-exchange-bithumb-hacked-for-13-million-in-suspected-insider-job/[Crypto Exchange Bithumb Hacked for $13 Million in Suspected Insider Job]



"_South Korean crypto exchange Bithumb has had around $13 million in the EOS cryptocurrency stolen in a hack it suspects was an insider job_"

| $13M



| 2019-03-06

| https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/crypto-ceo-died-with-passwords-to-137-million-but-the-money-is-gone-2019-3-1028009684[Experts finally tracked down the digital wallets of the crypto CEO who died with sole access to millions. They say the money's gone]



"_Investigators, who have secured his laptop and other devices, have revealed the money is gone._"

| $190M



| 2019-02-04

| https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/quadrigacx-cryptocurrency-1.5005236[Canadian cryptocurrency exchange QuadrigaCX seeks creditor protection after founder's death]



"_sudden death of its founder [...] in December and missing cryptocurrency worth roughly $190 million._" (lost private key)

| $190M



| 2019-01-07

| https://qz.com/1516994/ethereum-classic-got-hit-by-a-51-attack/[Ethereum Classic is under attack]



"_An unknown perpetrator essentially rolled back and altered transactions on the network._"

| $500k



| 2018-10-20

| https://ethereumworldnews.com/maplechange-crypto-exchange-hacked-for-913-bitcoin-btc-exit-scam-likely/[MapleChange Crypto Exchange Hacked For Bitcoin (BTC)]



"_MapleChange decided that it would be unable to pay its users back_"

| $6M



| 2018-09-14

| https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/20/17882636/zaif-japanese-bitcoin-exchange-cryptocurrency-digital-wallet-60-million[Japanese bitcoin exchange is robbed of $60 million worth of cryptocurrency]



"_Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Zaif [...] was hacked on September 14th during a two-hour time frame_"

| $60M



| 2018-06-10

| https://www.coindesk.com/coinrail-exchange-hacked-loses-possibly-40-million-in-cryptos[Coinrail Exchange Hacked, Loses Possibly $40 Million in Cryptos]



"_Coinrail, a cryptocurrency exchange based in South Korea, said [...] its platform has been hacked, [and] lost cryptocurrencies totaling as much as $40 million in the attack._"

| $40M



| 2018-04-08

| https://cointelegraph.com/news/unpacking-the-5-biggest-cryptocurrency-scams[Unpacking the 5 Biggest Cryptocurrency Scams]



"_Both ICOs have been classified as multi-level marketing scams. iFan was advertised a social media platform for celebrities [...] Meanwhile Pincoin was promising 40 percent monthly returns on investments made_"

| $660M



| 2017-11-08

| https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/nov/08/cryptocurrency-300m-dollars-stolen-bug-ether['$300m in cryptocurrency' accidentally lost forever due to bug]



"_More than $300m of cryptocurrency has been [...] effectively destroyed by accident._"

| $300M



| 2016-08-03

| https://www.coindesk.com/bitfinex-bitcoin-hack-know-dont-know[The Bitfinex Bitcoin Hack: What We Know (And Don’t Know)]



"_More than $60m worth of bitcoin was stolen from one of the world’s largest digital currency exchanges yesterday, and nearly 24 hours later, the event is still shrouded in mystery._"

| $66M



| 2016-06-18

| https://coincodex.com/article/50/the-dao-hack-what-happened-and-what-followed/[The DAO hack - what happened and what followed?]



"_The hacker was able to get the DAO smart contract to return Ether multiple times before it could update its own balance_"

| $70M



| 2014-03-04

| https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=499580[All deposits, withdrawals, and markets are functioning normally. No further BTC will be deducted from anyone's balance.]



The hacker discovered that if you place several withdrawals all in practically the same instant [...] will result in a negative balance, but valid insertions into the database [...] This could not have happened if withdrawal requests were processed sequentially instead of simultaneously.

| 



| 2014-03-03

| http://hackingdistributed.com/2014/04/06/another-one-bites-the-dust-flexcoin/[NoSQL Meets Bitcoin and Brings Down Two Exchanges: The Story of Flexcoin and Poloniex]



"_someone allegedly hacked in and made off with 896 BTC in the hot wallet. [...] The attacker [...] By sending thousands of simultaneous requests [...] was able to "move" coins from one user account to another until the sending account was overdrawn_"

| $600k



| 2011-06-19

| https://blockonomi.com/mt-gox-hack/[The History of the Mt Gox Hack: Bitcoin’s Biggest Heist]



"_Mt. Gox exchange was hacked, most likely as a result of a compromised computer belonging to an auditor of the company_"

| €460M



| 2010-08-15

| https://hackernoon.com/bitcoins-biggest-hack-in-history-184-4-ded46310d4ef[Bitcoin’s Biggest Hack In History: 184.4 Billion Bitcoin from Thin Air]



"_an unknown hacker nearly destroyed Bitcoin. The hacker generated 184.467 billion Bitcoin out of thin air. [...] If this hack hadn’t been rectified, Bitcoin would likely have died then and there, which would mean the entire crypto space as we know it would not exist_"

| 



|===



== Other



.More articles

. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/03/hackers-attack-solana-crypto-stealing-millions.html[Ongoing solana attack targets thousands of crypto wallets, costing users more than $5 million so far]

. https://roninblockchain.substack.com/p/back-to-building-ronin-security-breach[Back to Building: Ronin Security Breach Postmortem]

. https://decrypt.co/6824/crypto-capital-follow-up-article[The story of Crypto Capital’s dark past and its deep ties with the crypto industry]

. https://www.pcgamer.com/50-of-transactions-were-fraudulent-when-steam-accepted-bitcoin-for-payments-says-gabe-newell/['50% of transactions were fraudulent' when Steam accepted Bitcoin for payments, says Gabe Newell]

. https://www.zdnet.com/article/bitpoint-cryptocurrency-exchange-hacked-for-32-million/[Bitpoint cryptocurrency exchange hacked for $32 million]

. https://coindoo.com/bitmarket-crypto-exchange-suddenly-closes-down/[BitMarket Crypto Exchange Suddenly Closes Down]

. https://changelly.com/blog/top-10-cryptocurrency-scams-2019/[Top-10 Cryptocurrency Scams 2019]

. https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2014/07/20/the-9-biggest-screwups-in-bitcoin-history/[The 9 Biggest Screwups in Bitcoin History]

. https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-50435014[Cryptoqueen: How this woman scammed the world, then vanished]

. https://rekt.news/value-rekt2/[Value DeFi - REKT 2]

. https://www.singlelunch.com/2021/05/19/the-tether-ponzi-scheme/[The Tether Ponzi Scheme]

. https://mobile.twitter.com/nickbilton/status/1437420806317830151[Litecoin tweeted a bogus press release that Walmart planned to start accepting Litecoin]

. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/sep/17/waste-from-one-bitcoin-transaction-like-binning-two-iphones[Waste from one bitcoin transaction ‘like binning two iPhones’]

. https://news.yahoo.com/u-crypto-firm-nomad-hit-090258928.html[U.S. crypto firm Nomad hit by $190 million theft]

. https://twitter.com/0xfoobar/status/1517680400142716929[$34 million, or 11,539 eth, is permanently locked into the AkuDreams contract forever]

. https://hbr.org/2022/01/how-walmart-canada-uses-blockchain-to-solve-supply-chain-challenges[How Walmart Canada Uses Blockchain to Solve Supply-Chain Challenges]

. https://watcher.guru/news/hackers-steal-32-nfts-in-new-compromise-of-bored-ape-discord-server[Hackers Steal 32 NFTs in new Compromise of Bored Ape Discord Server]

. https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2022/04/25/at-least-13m-in-nfts-stolen-after-bored-ape-yacht-club-instagram-discord-hacked/[NFTs Stolen After Bored Ape Yacht Club Instagram, Discord Hacked]

. https://mobile.twitter.com/CoinersTakingLs/status/1517153406720245767[13 seconds and stole $80m]

. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/06/29/genesis-faces-hundreds-of-millions-in-losses-as-3ac-exposure-swamps-crypto-lenders-sources/[Genesis Faces ‘Hundreds of Millions’ in Losses as 3AC Exposure Swamps Crypto Lenders: Sources]

. https://twitter.com/harmonyprotocol/status/1540110924400324608[1/ The Harmony team has identified a theft occurring this morning on the Horizon bridge amounting to approx. $100MM]

. https://mobile.twitter.com/campuscodi/status/1516098858106957824[Beanstalk DeFi platform loses $182 million in recent cyber-attack]

. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/apr/14/twitter-nft-jack-dorsey-sina-estavi[Man who paid $2.9m for NFT of Jack Dorsey’s first tweet set to lose almost $2.9m]

. https://mobile.twitter.com/cobie/status/1513874972552355846[Found an ETH address that bought hundreds of thousands of dollars of tokens exclusively featured in the Coinbase Asset Listing post about 24 hours before it was published]

. https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2022/03/29/axie-infinitys-ronin-network-suffers-625m-exploit/[Axie Infinity’s Ronin Network Suffers $625M Exploit]

. https://cryptosec.info/exchange-hacks/[Documented Timeline of Exchange Hacks]

. https://therecord.media/hackers-steal-120-million-from-badger-defi-platform/[Hackers steal $120 million from Badger DeFi platform]

. https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-59638565[Bored Ape NFT accidentally sells for $3,000 instead of $300,000]

. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVdKRaxNwdU[History's Largest Financial Scam - Cryptocurrency]

. https://www.thestreet.com/investing/cryptocurrency/dead-crypto-surging-as-scams-spread-new-report-says['Dead' Crypto Surging As Scams Spread, New Report Says]

. https://www.vice.com/en/article/4awqbm/feds-arrest-couple-who-allegedly-laundered-dollar1-billion-in-stolen-bitcoins[Feds Arrest Couple Who Allegedly Laundered $1 Billion in Stolen Bitcoins]

. https://blog.chainalysis.com/reports/2021-crypto-scam-revenues/[The Biggest Threat to Trust in Cryptocurrency: Rug Pulls Put 2021 Cryptocurrency Scam Revenue Close to All-time Highs]

. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/bitconnect-founder-indicted-global-24-billion-cryptocurrency-scheme[BitConnect Founder Indicted in Global $2.4 Billion Cryptocurrency Scheme]