Biggest Crypto Hacks of 2021—And What We Can Learn from Them

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Disclaimer: The Industry Talk section features insights by crypto industry players and is not a part of the editorial content of Cryptonews.com.

It’s abundantly clear that cryptocurrency, DeFi, and the blockchain technology making it possible—are all here to stay.  While prices of the most famous coins continue to spike and drop, the actual innovation developed by the industry in 2021 is something that society will be discussing for decades.  The number of platforms has exploded, and though there have and will always be a few junk coins and scam platforms, there are many more with solid business plans and utility to offer their communities.  For any technophile or crypto enthusiast, this truly is an amazing time to be alive.

Which is why it hurts so much more when another crypto platform makes the news because of theft, hacking, or manipulation.  Hundreds of millions have been lost this past year, and in most cases the wallet holders will not get their money back.  The best aspects of cryptocurrency are also the worst; with no “undo” button, thefts and hacks take on a much darker and serious tone for those heavily invested.

Instead of living in fear, though, perhaps we can examine some of these incidents, analyze the reasons and methods for the attacks, and look to see what lessons we can learn from this.  Finally, let’s look at some of the emerging techniques to prevent these kinds of attacks from being possible, and which platforms are making that protection a reality.

Cryptocurrency exchange Livecoin, headquartered in Russia, suffered a hack in late 2020.  While the attackers didn’t steal cryptocurrency outright, they were able to successfully sabotage the exchange by manipulating the exchange rate values.  This made it