A report by cybersecurity expert Brian Krebs outlines how various experts have come to this conclusion after analyzing a long string of crypto thefts perpetrated against people with otherwise strong security practices. Altogether, the thefts suspected to have been enabled by the LastPass breach amount to more than $35 million.
Stolen LastPass vaults possibly cracked to enable crypto thefts
- "Experts Fear Crooks are Cracking Keys Stolen in LastPass Breach", Krebs on Security [archive]
GMBL.COMPUTER crypto casino exploited hours after launch
GMBL offered a "bug bounty" to the attacker, inviting them to return 90% of the stolen funds in exchange for a promise not to pursue legal action. The exploiter later returned 235 ETH (~$382,000), or half what they had stolen.
GMBL promised that "we are going to thoroughly test everything again before re launching".
MetaMask phishing scammers hijack government websites
Once victims visit the fake site, they're prompted to connect their MetaMask wallets to access various services, which would allow the scammers to steal any assets in the wallets.
Genesis to close U.S. spot trading business
"The decision was made voluntarily and for business reasons," the email claimed.
Genesis is a subsidiary of the Digital Currency Group (DCG) conglomerate, which has since the beginning of the year seen its Genesis platform enter bankruptcy, shuttered its TradeBlock subsidiary, and is reportedly approaching a deal to sell its CoinDesk crypto media outlet.
Nima Capital accused of rug pull
Synapse posted on Twitter that they were "investigating unusual activity" on the wallets of one of their liquidity providers, and were "working to get in touch with them".
The $SYN token plummeted almost 25% after the sell-off, later recovering somewhat.
Crypto casino Stake hacked for over $40 million
Stake acknowledged the attack on their Twitter account, writing that "We are investigating and will get the wallets up as soon as they're completely re-secured."
Stake is an Australia-based cryptocurrency casino and sports betting platform that has enjoyed endorsements from various celebrities, and which shelled out $100 million in 2022 for an endorsement deal with Drake.
On September 6, the FBI announced that they believed the Lazarus Group was behind the theft. Lazarus is a group of North Korean state-sponsored hackers allegedly responsible for crypto hacks totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.
Gala Games co-founders sue each other over claimed hundreds of millions in losses
In a competing lawsuit, Wright Thurston alleges that Schiermeyer unilaterally misused over $600 million in company funds in wasteful actions that were "often for his own personal benefit", including to buy a private jet and hire architects and designers for personal real estate projects.
The $GALA token dropped 5% on the news of the lawsuits.
Starknet upgrade leaves $550,000 inaccessible
After user backlash over a cumulative $550,000 in funds that were inaccessible to people who hadn't heard about the breaking change, Starkware re-enabled the ability for people to upgrade their wallets – leading some to question why it was ever disabled in the first place if it could be trivially re-enabled to prevent the loss of half a million in assets.
Blockchain gaming streamer loses life savings after exposing private key on stream
Apparently realizing his mistake, Fraternidade Crypto ended the stream, and says he tried to relocate the crypto to a new wallet. It was too late, however, and someone watching had already taken the around 86,000 MATIC (~$50,000) and various NFTs in the wallet.
Fraternidade Crypto posted an emotional video after the fact, explaining that the stolen funds were his life savings. He said he planned to file a police report, and also offered a reward for the return of the funds.
Fortunately, he was able to recover the stolen MATIC, though he says he has not been able to recover the NFTs, which have "incalculable value as they are NFTs, estimated value of approximately 15k dollars still lost".
Impact Theory to pay $6.1 million for unregistered NFT offering in an SEC first
As a part of the agreement, Impact will destroy all remaining Founder's Keys NFTs, forgo royalties from future secondary sales, and publish a notice of the order on its websites and social media.
Founder's Keys in the rarest tier have recently sold for $1,500 apiece, and promised to give their holders access to Impact Theory's self-help content, which supposedly taught viewers how to "unlock their potential and pursue greatness". According to the SEC, the company encouraged holders to view the tokens as an investment into the business.