Cryptocurrencies have been around for less than a decade, but they have already seen their fair share of heists. From exchanges getting hacked to individual investors getting scammed, criminals have found many ways to steal money from the cryptocurrency community. In this article, we will look at some of the biggest crypto heists in history.

mt. gox When it comes to crypto heists, there is no bigger name than mt. gox. This Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange was the world's largest at one point, but it fell apart in 2014 after losing more than 800,000 BTC, an amount worth roughly $450 million at the time and over $6 billion at today's prices. The heist didn't happen on the exchange, though. Cybercriminals hacked mt. gox 's hot wallets to steal most of the coins, while some customers also reported losing their bitcoin holdings directly through the exchange over time. Users filed a lawsuit against the company in 2014, but it was dismissed due to many claims and a lack of evidence.

NiceHash In 2017, cryptocurrency enthusiasts collectively gasped when it was revealed that hackers had stolen 4700 BTC from NiceHash, a Slovenian-based crypto-mining marketplace. At the time, this was about $70 million. The hack took place on December 6th, and it took the company roughly a week to inform the public. The theft compromised NiceHash's entire wallet, which led to the temporary shutdown of its operations. The team promised to compensate users who lost money fully, but they are still working on returning funds to users wallets. Coincheck In January 2018, the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck was hacked for over $500 million worth of NEM. The company had placed all their funds in hot wallets instead of cold storage, which led to a theft of nearly all crypto assets. This resulted in the biggest crypto heist so far and an almost immediate drop in NEM's price. In March 2018, Coincheck was acquired by Monex Group, a Japanese online brokerage. The company is preparing to relaunch its exchange platform in 2019. BitGrail While not as large as other crypto heists, the hack that took place on the Italian cryptocurrency exchange Bitgrail deserves attention because victims are currently taking legal action against the company. The team behind the exchange promised several updates to make whole users who lost Nano during the heist, but they failed to follow through. In February 2018, Nano developers noticed some unusual transactions and alerted the community. Later, Bitgrail's developer used an exploit to steal 17 million Nano.