Cryptocurrency thefts continue to set records — with $927 million in cryptocurrency reported as stolen in the first three quarters of 2018, according to a report of CipherTrace. This represents 3.5 times as much cryptocurrency as was stolen in all of 2017.
By the end of the second quarter CipherTrace experts reported that more cryptocurrencies were stolen during the first half of 2018 than in all 2017. At that time the sum stolen mounted to $731 million — including the hacking of Coincheck and BitGrail.
Through the end of the third quarter the total amount of cryptocurrencies reported as stolen climbed to $927 million — and CipherTrace estimates this trend will bring the total stolen and reported in 2018 to well over $1 billion by the end of the year.
Most of the funds stolen during the third quarter were a result of cyberattacks to crypto trading exchanges, namely Bithumb ($30 million), among others.
As reported, the US is one of the most vulnerable countries to cryptocurrency theft — more than half of the attacks took place in the country.
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