In less than ten years, hackers have stolen USD 1.2 billion worth of cryptocurrency (Bitcoin and Ether), and given the currencies’ explosive surge at the end of 2017, the cost in today’s money is much higher.

That is the conclusion of global director of fintech strategy at Autonomous Research LLP Lex Sokolin, Bloomberg reports. “It looks like crypto hacking is a USD 200 million annual revenue industry. Hackers have compromised more than 14% of the Bitcoin and Ether supply.”

WinterGreen Research CEO Susan Eustis estimates that hacks involving cryptocurrencies have cost companies and governments USD 11.3 billion through lost potential tax revenue from coin sales and illegitimate transactions.  

07.12.2017 | 10:36 ICO 2017: USD 300 million lost to ransomware hacks

“Those losses could snowball as more companies and investors rush into the white-hot cryptocurrency market without weighing the dangers or taking steps to protect themselves,” Bloomberg writes, bringing up opinions on vulnerability of the blockchain technology itself.

“Some users see blockchain records as super-secure. But in many ways they are no safer than any other software,” said Matt Suiche, who runs the blockchain security company Comae Technologies. Since the market is immature, blockchains may even be more vulnerable than other software. There are thousands of them, each with its own bugs.

Forrester Research analyst Andras Cser believes that while hacking a blockchain may be harder than breaking into a retailer’s database, “the rewards are greater,” as “you have much more information you can steal”.

According to WinterGreen, the market for software, services and hardware to secure blockchain activity should grow to USD 355 billion. It was USD 259 million in 2017.

The partner of Fintech section is