Nearly $1 Billion Stolen In Crypto Hacks So Far This Year: Research

The losses related to crypto hacks continue to rise sharply, with nearly $1 billion stolen so far this year, new research suggests.

In the first nine months of 2018, hackers stole $927 million from the cryptocurrency exchanges and other platforms, according to a recent report.

CipherTrace estimates the total figure will reach over $1 billion by the end of 2018.

The most notable theft of the year 2018 was the hack of Japanese exchange Coincheck.

Other major breaches included a number of crypto exchanges such as Italy's BitGrail, Japan's Zaif and South Korea's Coinrail.

"This data indicates a pattern of smaller robberies on a regular basis and sophisticated professional cyber thieves who carry out hacks at both the exchange and platform levels by capitalizing on exposed vulnerabilities, as well as by socially engineering employees who work at these companies."

Some other hacks such as the CoinHoarder phishing thefts, estimated at $50 million, were excluded from the report, CipherTrace said, adding that it will include them in the 2018 annual report if the figures can be confirmed.

CipherTrace further revealed that 97 percent of the direct bitcoin payments from criminals went to exchanges in countries with weak anti-money laundering laws, and that the exchanges have laundered a significant amount of bitcoin, totaling 380,000 BTC or $2.5 billion at current prices.

Some governments around the world have taken stricter measures to curb the thefts, the report said, while many other governments are expected to come up with tighter cryptocurrency AML regulations by the end of this year.

Earlier today, CoinDesk reported that Tech Bureau, the firm behind Zaif., has revealed a new plan to compensate users after a major hack last month that would see it taken over by another crypto exchange.