The crypto market's whiplash volatility can make investing in certain coins feel like a major gamble, especially to those less familiar with the ins and outs of digital wallets and blockchain technology. It also poses a cybersecurity risk in the event that digital hackers and thieves find a way into your portfolios.
EDUARD MUZHEVSKYI/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY | Getty ImagesThis was precisely the case Monday, when it was found that an estimated $15 million worth of Ethereum was stolen from exchange platform Crypto.com.
Multiple users had begun reporting missing funds and odd activity on their accounts, prompting the site to release a statement via Twitter, reading, "We have a small number of users reporting suspicious activity on their accounts. We will be pausing withdrawals shortly, as our team is investigating. All funds are safe."
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The "odd activity" was first noted by Billy Markus, creator of Dogecoin, who pointed out a pattern of crypto wallets receiving "multiple of the same transactions to a new wallet."
Blockchain security and analytics firm PeckShield Inc. ran data and found that just shy of $15 million of Ethereum was taken in the hack, which amounts to roughly 4.6K ETH coins. But by Wednesday morning, it was discovered that those weren't the only losses.
A new report by OXT Research is claiming that nearly 444 Bitcoin were also stolen from the exchange site after a hacker had used a Bitcoin tumbler to move the funds. Per Bitcoin's latest valuation, the loss of these coins is equivalent to around $18.4 million, making the total value of funds stolen around a whopping $33 million.
Crypto.com has not yet commented on the latest findings, with CEO Kris Marszalek having most recently tweeted that "no customer funds were lost," adding, "Our team has hardened the infrastructure in response to the incident. We will share a full post mortem after the internal investigation is completed."
As of late Wednesday morning, Ethereum was down around 4% week over week, with Bitcoin dropping just shy of 2% over the same period.
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