Cryptocurrency theft: $9.8 billion stolen since 2017

According to a report by KPMG and published on Bloomberg, hackers have stolen cryptocurrencies for a total of $9.8 billion since 2017. Although the entire industry is worth $245 billion, security remains a strong question mark. 

Security measures need to be implemented to attract more institutional investors, and in this sense, this need is felt more strongly than ever, reports Bloomberg.

This could lead to increased profits for custodians.

Sal Ternullo, co-leader of KMPG’s crypto services and author of the report, explained:

“Institutional investors especially will not risk owning crypto assets if their value cannot be safeguarded in the same way their cash, stocks and bonds are”.

The report confirms a trend that has already appeared in other investigations. Just a few weeks ago CipherTrace issued a similar report that in 2019 alone, $4.5 billion in crypto-related scams had been lost. 

There is no shortage of sensational cases, even amongst giants. For example, Binance was the victim of a theft of BTC 7,000 last year. Speaking of security, Bitfinex has been the victim of a DDoS attack in recent days that knocked down the servers and forced the team to keep the website offline for a few hours, without any losses. 

In some cases, it went worse, like Cryptopia, forced to close after a theft. Then there are those projects that seem credible and instead are Ponzi schemes that enrich only the promoters and not the investors. One of them, Onecoin. 

These are cases that create insecurity especially for those who are not experts or are not very skilled in investing in this sector. This is why the implementation of security systems is one of the necessary steps to achieve the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies and the involvement of institutional investors.