More than $600 million in cryptocurrency has been stolen from the gaming-focused Ronin Network in what may be the largest crypto hack ever. It’s been reported that 173,600 in Ethereum cryptocurrency (worth $594.6 million) and $25.5 million in U.S. dollars were taken, resulting in a total loss of $625 million.
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This latest attack aimed at stealing cryptocurrency assets is unfortunately the latest in a long-standing and growing trend. The last few months of 2021 saw cyber criminals steal nearly $200 million worth of cryptocurrency from BitMart, which was quickly followed by an attack on 400 Crypto.com users. The attack being reported today against the gaming-focused Ronin Network is already speculated as being the largest crypto hack to date, with an estimated $625m stolen in a combination of Ethereum and US dollars.
What is critical is that cryptocurrency organisations start placing a greater emphasis on their cyber security posture in the same way that any large financial institution would. There is an uncomfortable tendency to see attacks against crypto assets as something that takes place in isolation, and the fact is that attacks of this size have a huge impact on thousands of people. Despite the opposition to regulation, incidents such as this only strengthen the arguments that these organisations should be brought in line with the wider financial sector. Cyber security threats to cryptocurrency need to be addressed urgently because as digital currencies become ever more deeply ingrained in day to day life, these attacks will have increasingly larger ripple effects in wider society.