CRYPTOCURRANCY

Cryptocurrency: What is it? A digital currency, or cryptocurrency, is an alternative payment method developed utilising encryption methods. By utilising encryption technology, cryptocurrencies can act as both a medium of exchange and a virtual accounting system.

Cryptocurrency is a type of digital or virtual money that controls the creation of new units while using encryption techniques to safeguard and verify transactions. Since cryptocurrencies are decentralised and run without a central bank, neither the government nor financial institutions can control them.

The first and best-known cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, was released in 2009. Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash are a few additional well-known cryptocurrencies. On cryptocurrency exchanges, which resemble conventional stock exchanges, cryptocurrencies can be bought and traded.

The usage of a blockchain, a distributed ledger that records all bitcoin transactions, is one of the main characteristics of cryptocurrencies. As all transactions are made public, it is difficult to trick the system or commit fraud as a result.

BITCOIN:

A protocol called Bitcoin (abbreviated BTC or XBT) creates a highly accessible, public, perpetual, and decentralized ledger. A user must demonstrate they have control over an entry in the ledger before they may add to it. The protocol stipulates that the entry must include a tiny b to represent the quantity of a token, in this case, bitcoin. By assigning some of their bitcoin to another ledger record, the user can amend the ledger. The token may be viewed as a form of digital currency because it resembles money.

Blockchain is a term used to refer to a public distributed ledger where bitcoin transactions are stored and cryptographically validated by network nodes. By adopting the alias Satoshi Nakamoto, an unidentified individual or group of persons created the cryptocurrency in 2008. In 2009, when its implementation was made available as open-source software, the currency was put into circulation. In a white paper that was released on October 31, 2008, the term "bitcoin" was defined. The terms "bit" and "coin" are combined to form it.

Ethereum:

Decentralized and open-source, Ethereum is a blockchain that supports smart contracts. The platform's native cryptocurrency is ether, abbreviated as ETH and represented by the  symbol. Ether's market valuation is second only to that of bitcoin among cryptocurrencies. 

2013 saw the creation of Ethereum by programmer Vitalik Buterin.

Gavin Wood, Charles Hoskinson, Anthony Di Iorio, and Joseph Lubin were other Ethereum founders.

 Crowdfunding for the network's development work began in 2014, and on July 30, 2015, the network launched.

Anybody may upload permanent, irreversible, decentralised programmes to Ethereum, allowing users to communicate with them.Without the need for conventional financial intermediaries like brokerages, exchanges, or banks, decentralised finance (DeFi) apps offer a wide range of financial services, such as enabling bitcoin users to borrow against or lend from their holdings.

EXCHANGES:

Notable cryptocurrency exchange compromises resulting in the loss of cryptocurrencies include:

In 2015, cryptocurrencies worth US$5 million were stolen from Bitstamp.

Between 2011 and 2014, US$350 million worth of bitcoin were stolen from Mt. Gox.

In 2016, US$72 million were stolen through exploiting Bitfinex's exchange wallet, users were refunded.

On December 7, 2017, Slovenian cryptocurrency exchange NiceHash reported that hackers had stolen over $70M using a hijacked company computer.

On December 19, 2017, Yapian, the owner of South Korean exchange Youbit, filed for bankruptcy after suffering two hacks that year.Customers were still granted access to 75% of their assets.[citation needed]

In 2018, cryptocurrencies worth US$400 million were stolen from Coincheck.

In May 2018, Bitcoin Gold had its transactions hijacked and abused by unknown hackers.[14] Exchanges lost an estimated $18m and Bitcoin Gold was delisted from Bittrex after it refused to pay its share of the damages.

In June 2018, South Korean exchange Coinrail was hacked, losing over $37M worth of cryptos.[15] The hack worsened an already ongoing cryptocurrency selloff by an additional $42 billion.

On July 9, 2018, the exchange Bancor, whose code and fundraising had been subjects of controversy, had $23.5 million in cryptocurrency stolen.

Zaif US$60 million in Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash and Monacoin stolen in September 2018[19]

Binance In 2019 cryptocurrencies worth US$40 million were stolen.[13][20]

Africrypt founders are suspected of absconding in June 2021 with US$3.6 billion worth of Bitcoin[21]

PolyNetwork (DeFi) suffered the loss of US$611 million in a theft in August 2021.[22]

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Liquid was compromised in August 2021 resulting in a loss of US$97 million worth of digital coins[23]

Cream Finance was subject to a US$29 million theft in August, 2021[24] and $130 million October 28, 2021.[25]

On December 2, 2021, users of the BadgerDAO DeFi lost around $118,500,000 worth of bitcoin and $679,000 worth of ethereum tokens in a front-end attack. A compromised API key of the Cloud flare content delivery network account allowed injecting of a malicious script to the web interface. BadgerDAO "paused" all smart contracts due to user complaints.

On December 6, 2021, the cryptocurrency exchange BitMart lost around $135M worth of Ethereum and an estimate of around $46 million in other cryptocurrencies due to a breach of two of its wallets.Although BitMart stated that it would reimburse its clients, many BitMart clients have not received any money from the exchange as of January 2022.

On December 12, 2021, users of Vulcan Forge lost around $135M worth of PYR due to breaches of multiple wallets. Partering centralized exchanges had been notified of the hack and they have pledged to seize any stolen funds upon deposit.

On January 27, 2022, Qubit Finance (DeFi) lost around $80M worth of Binance Coin due to a flaw in the smart contract that enabled withdrawal of the said amount in exchange for a deposit of 0 ETH.

In March 2022, the largest cryptocurrency theft of the year, US$625 million in ether and USD coin was stolen from the Ronin Network. Hacked nodes were finally discovered when a user reported being unable to withdraw funds. The heist was later linked to Lazarus Group, a North Korean state-backed hacking collective, by the U.S. Treasury Department.

On September 20, 2022, Wintermute was hacked resulting in theft of US$160 million. The company attributed the vulnerability to a service used by the platform that generates vanity addresses for digital accounts.