Bitcoin Forum

I was reading about Cashaa, that was hacked and 336BTC were stolen. But the hacker can't move them right? He will leave footprints. So why should hackers steal them since they can be found? For example if they want to convert them to fiat.

The only way I think you could get by from this felony is to keep them on very long term. So long that it may be forgotten. But still, it may.

A mixer can be used to hide or disguise the bitcoin footprint ?

Indeed, hackers will leave footprints if they try to transfer funds from hacked account. More so to speak that they are targeting vulnerable funds; thus, susceptible for an attack.
However, most of these attacks were very successful that they can still managed to get btc and convert it into fiat. However, if there are individuals trying to hack, they would be very big and well funded. In addition, attacks through phising websites and application can be worth noting. Note that most hacks happened in huge markets like bitfinex, binance, huobi and etc. Recent event on twitter would not be considered a direct attack to btc, rather they are accumulating btc from scammed victims. Well, time will tell what made hackers do what they do. Are they trying to test the system of bitcoin or are they trying to proved something they are good about?

Exactly what I was going to say, you could put the coins through a mixer multiple times in batches. It should clean them up, you could sell a bunch P2P on Localbitcoins & nobody would be any wiser.

For your question in the subject, they are doing that for the ”easy money.”  I don't think they are willing to hack small amounts if the thing they are doing is complicated. And for your concerns that they can be traced, it's just like what the other members said above me; it's the mixers.

There was a time where there are a lot of mixers, but a lot has closed as well because of the track down of those mixers.

Little correction, huobi never got hacked till now [1]. But, I'm not say houbi is 100% safest exchanges... we can't know what next about this exchanges.

Nope, the funds has been moved to 1M22U5uYEGUV1QkxSwUecebRGPW6uQgjRz and 38tgyi9ZobWNg5zUpzfDd1u5J3uTqyUdB2 [2]

Like anyone said above, bitcoin mixer will hide his identity and can't be traced.

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[1] https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/14RYUUaMW1shoxCav4znEh64xnTtL3a2Ek
[2] https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2017/11/22/correction-huobi-wasnt-hacked-in-2015-but-the-2015-bitstamp-hacker-did-withdraw-12000-btc-from-huobi/

That's where bitcoin mixer enter the picture, to obfuscate and conceal their tracks.

There are cases that most hack bitcoin are being move, it might take time for the hackers though, but definitely they will and they are going to find ways to cash it out and take the risk to enjoy their loot.

If there are no ways to use the funds why they will try to do so. Simple answer : hackers know the way to use the hacked funds , that's why they hack any centralized exchange try to do double spend attack on any blockchains. As @Mbitr said, they could use mixer to hide their identity. Also there might be a way to use the funds without converting to fiat currency which we don't know yet except the hacker community, IMO. If anyone want to know why they hack ,than he/she will need to think like hacker not like the hunter of a hacker.  :D

They steal because they are criminals in the online world and there's no distinction between offline and online, they are still criminals in the eyes of the law.

There are ways to hide like others have said, tumbling services or bitcoin mixers. And those who breach twitter and pull a fake giveaways, they already used a service called Wasabi wallet - which is a privacy focused wallet.

No such thing. There are lots of people who monitor the addresses of known and significant hacks. It's no work involved in setting up an alert.

We still hear about coins moving years down the line. A thief would have to do something to hide the coins. Simply waiting and then moving them in the open would result in action against them waking up. I expect law enforcement would be doing the same and exchanges too.

Hacker can easily move the stolen BTC though the wallet address used by the hacker will be tagged.
Why do hacker steal huge amount of BTC? We cant really know their intentions but the number why thief steal is to make huge money quick.

It will only leave footprints if the hacker dont use bitcoin tumbler.

 The only way to get by the felony is by exchange and wallet provided improve their security.

336 BTC isn't that huge. Thieves will mix them many-many times, with various methods, then they might start moving some of the coins between services to make them look more clean, then they might launder them or find some way to cash them out without major exchanges. They could look for OTC trading, p2p trading, exchange services, ATMs with cash withdrawals, etc.

It is the Mixing company that hackers will Run because they can mix the bitcoin and will Hide them from being Pointed,or they can Use Gambling site to hide their identity ,Hackers have their own ways of taking the bitcoin.
And here you have answered your own question,so what would be the real question here?you have idea about what will hacker do?and besides bitcoin is better on HOlding so maybe these hackers are also investing for long term?anyway what does matter since it is really hard to take them down,many have tried but failure is what they've got.

If they are smart enough to steal those huge amounts, they are probably also smart enough to hide their tracks too.

I'd bet that they'll find a way to cash them out.

hackers who steal bitcoins always have ways to launder money and leave no trace, they always calculate in advance, if they stole bitcoins to do nothing, they did not, there are doubts that hackers money laundering with eth transaction fee

Just to answer your question it's because want easy money and stealing Bitcoin is the best way to do it. However, you said they can't use it but they can. They will usually sell the bitcoins easily after mixing the Bitcoins using a Bitcoin mixer service in order to make the transactions untraceable. Now imagine they use the mixer for multiple times. None can track then that easily. That's why, some exchanges and mostly local exchanges on clearnet won't accept mixed Bitcoins.

Exactly! They won't set their foot into dirty doings without knowing their way out. It is not like, they are letting themselves get caught in the end, so what's the point of stealing if they won't get the chance to use it  :-\.

As majority said, this bitcoin mixers thing would come into play. So, if you want to know what bitcoin mixers are, then.
Here's the thread for you:

• https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5106873.0

And here's the thread for the list of bitcoin mixers we currently have:

• https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2827109.0

And yet many of them are so lazy and stupid they often do hang themselves. It only takes one slip to blow your anonymity.

The address that was posted on all of the hacked Twitter accounts has had past transactions to exchanges. The chances are there's some link to ID somewhere along the way.

Quite a few dark market druggists have sent funds directly from sales to exchange accounts that sent the pigs straight to their door.

I'm pretty sure they're stealing because they have a plan on how to get fiat for them. Mixers have been mentioned here, and I think it's a reasonable first step. Then goes a deal somewhere where no KYC is asked (meeting someone in person and getting cash or using a KYC-free ATM). Finally, if there's enough money stolen, even if the identity of a person becomes compromised, with sufficient resources it should be possible to get fake documents and travel to a place where nobody's looking for you, start and new life. Not to mention that crypto crimes don't seem to be investigated as seriously as fiat crimes (maybe I'm wrong) because in many places cryptos are in the gray area and there's no common law.

maybe this is the point where most people hate banks (without much sense in my opinion) if they are convinced that the cryptocurrency system is also very broken in this part, hackers know that stealing cryptocurrencies is something much more advantageous than stealing fiat in the bank where you have security cameras and always have a witness and even if it takes many years, eventually the thief will be found, while in the case of stealing any exchange there is little and no chance of being found. That is why I believe that anyone who has money on exchanges (just like me) should not sleep soundly ... this is the great disadvantage of the decentralized world of cryptocurrencies.

But of course with KYC on all exchanges it might be possible to have a more secure system capable of finding hackers, but there are mixers that, although the intent of the mixers' creators are good (I think) help the hackers in some way and escape with stolen bitcoins

Even in places where it's definitively theft like any other authorities don't seem to care very much. They don't seem to work hard at any type of online fraud compared to real world theft.

I knew a guy who had the police helicopter sent after him after stealing a £10 bag of coal. If he'd stolen £10,000,000 online he would be a database entry and not much else.

At some point there's going to need to be a major attitude change because this indifference is going to drive it to new heights.

Two questions.
1) How exactly can a hacker escape with a mixer?
2) Why do mixers exist?

1- By sending their dirty coins to a mixer and get back clean coins.
2- To clean your dirty coins.

What do you mean to clean them? What does the mixer exactly do? Does it send your funds to thousands addresses? How is that clean?

They give you somebody else's coins instead. They do this with thousands of addresses in the end you won't be able to track down where your coins came from.

I don't really know how their algorithm works. If I did, I would create my own.  ;D

Already owned addresses? And who promises me that he won't steal me?

1- You should do your prior research and read the reviews about the service which you are about to use.
2- They mostly use automated scripts. Means, as soon as you send coins, you get back your new coins to your receiving address.

The weakness of Bitcoin is transparent, so transactions can be traced. It is possible that hackers stole Bitcoin because of the highest
popularity compared to other cryptocurrency. And also Bitcoin is exist in all exchanges, so it's easy to sell and move it. The problem
how hackers move Bitcoin without leaving a trace. Probably the safest step to hold Bitcoin for a long time, or it could sell it little
by little.

of course hacking is like a job to which one could earn huge. Aside from that others consider hacking as their hobby. I don't think that they just hack a system or bitcoin without a good reason. As I had mention earlier that hacking is like a job and it is a way of fast and easy money. And in return if a hacker get caught then that would be the end of his life getting into prison is no life. Anyway, hope they will at least changenl the way their life is for it is not too late to change.

Stealing bitcoins is way better for the hackers than stealing from the online bank wallets or credit card frauds or maybe carding itself. They can actually get away with the money and exchange these bitcoins for other privacy centered coins on the decentralized exchanges or maybe on the darknet or they would simply mix their bitcoins, there are a lot of people who are using mixers these days. More the number of people using the mixer easier for the hacker to get away with the money.
Mostly the authorities also don't look at this kind of matter seriously but in case of a credit card fraud then getting away will be the biggest problem for the hacker.

The hacker will figure out how to move the funds to another wallet. We can see the bitcoin move from one wallet to another wallet, but we still don't know who the hacker is. And if they don't reveal themselves, we only know the funds move without knowing who the owner of the wallet is. They can hide pretty well because they have skills to do that, so I believe that they will find that way to get the money.


1. They send the funds to the mixer and let the mixer do the dirty jobs for them. Meanwhile, the hacker can do another thing to prepare the escape.
2. You can visit this page to learn why to mix coins (https://mycryptomixer.com/why-mix).

The hacker can convert the bitcoin amount to the altcoin, and that is the best way they can do to prevent the tracking, and they can still hide.


As long as you can find recommended mixing services, they won't steal your money because their reputations will be their concern to serves their customer.

With the mixing services the footprints can be hidden, apart from this there is no need of holding it for a long term. Once the footprints were destroyed automatically he can transfer to different addresses. For limited volume there'll be traders to support bitcoin for fiat without any form of identity reveal. Also, these days hackers weren't much backtracked when the issues were associated with cryptocurrencies.

Traces can be masked through the use of mixers, or use falsified information to register on an exchange and buy privacy coins, use that privacy coins to another exchange and trade it out to fresh new bitcoins. Hackers are creative when it comes to moving around stolen coins, so I don't think it is hard for them to devise a method to cash out that kind of money without being noticed. That's why coin mixers are a hot topic on law enforcement as it can be used to facilitate money laundering and similar stuff which makes things hard for law enforcement to piece two and two together.

I guess hackers would say that it was a risky move but for them its worth it since what they have hacked is worth millions and its impossible for them to do something they know that would not know how to coverup. If they do not know how to coverup their tracks then it would really be a waste of their time.

They are just turning the opposite attention to the ones who follow them so that they can execute their plan to take the bitcoins safely without to be traced out but I think the amount is so huge and provably the platforms are been alerted for this scheme.

But for sure plan has been set before the attack happen so maybe there are hiding techniques for this.

Maybe, they steal bitcoin because they can't work so hard or their patience is not that strong to start an investment to engage in using bitcoin.

For me, I think that's the reason why they are doing those scamming and hacking incidents in most of the platforms where people are accessing their bitcoins. Those hackers are not effective in growing money with themselves and they want instant money. That's the reason why people are keep on hacking bitcoin because the definition of bitcoin for them is that it is a quick rich scheme where they don't need to deal with the market with their own manipulation, they will just have a bitcoin instantly.

All of those things that violates the law are illegal, and stealing the money that you didn't worked hard for is clearly unauthorized.


One of the reason why people are keep on stealing other people's btc is because, most of the authorities can't track them easily. Their effort is not enough to locate and find those hackers so that they will become accountable for the crime that they commit. We all know that no one is above the law, but they are making good escape after they steal a lot of money. We just need to become more careful about our assets because in reality, if the authority will not do their best to stop those hackings, we will live in this life where they will continuously do that .

I would agree with this. They won't have the courage to steal a huge amount of bitcoin if they don't know what to do and how to escape from it without getting traced. Also, they are smart and they know what they are doing, as well as the consequences of stealing huge funds.

It's just like the same as how others steal money. They have their plans (like what others have mentioned) before doing something like that. They won't steal if they don't know what to do. They are hackers after all others have the knowledge and skills to escape.

When robbers go to bank, they don't really have amount they want to steal before they left for robbery. They still as many as they can and part of the reason why they are being caught. The same thing apply to hackers. They hack accounts and ones they see huge amount of btc, they become nervous to steal everything. Crime charges very from country to country, while some country might have a long jail term for this act, some might not depending on the scenario and how much the criminal is ready to corporate

With a mixer, the hacker can obfuscate their identity before using the service. The mixer will attempt to break the linkage between the coins that were sent to them and the coins that are sent to the destination address. It's not a foolproof way but it is able to make your coins untraceable to a good percentage. If done correctly, there shouldn't be an easy way to prove that the coins were once from an X hack for example.
To complement the idea that Bitcoin should help with the user's privacy. Mixer breaks the linkage of the coins and outsiders won't be able to track where the coins came from. This helps to obscure the user's spending habits for example.

Once again the vulnerability comes to light, the interesting thing is that the CEOs of the top of the exchanges have joined forces to prevent the hacker from claiming Bitcoin. Attacks are happening very often we must be alert and safe. Fortunately we are noticing that exchanges are reordering security systems.

Why wouldn't they? They are hackers. Someone being careless about their coins and the hackers wouldn't mind taking it. They find vulnerabilities on exchanges and they use it for their own benefit. They are making easy money from it.They don't have the same "frame of mind" like us. They don't differentiate or can't differentiate between what is right or wrong. They don't have any morals and don't actually care about being low. So easy money is one of the reason why they do this.

And like others said, they can use mixers to obscure their transactions. They can even spend it on something else like buying stuffs with bitcoin where they don't need to provide ID and later sell those stuffs.

Why should hacker steal? Because they are hacker that want to get rich instantly from the funds and wealth of others.
Even in a long time they can't hide from the authority because they have a case. Even they keep bitcoin in a long term,it will be traced. Wherever they go and hide i'm sure the authority will find them. Always remember "No one can Escape".

I think you already know why they hack huge amount and not just some tiny amount on a single address. They hack because they know they won't get caught as long as they know how to clean Bitcoin through mixer and nobody's going to suspect that it was them. That's quite an easy money and I believe it is not done by a single person since most of hacking that I know is either inside job or planned carefully for months or years before they attempt to do it.

I guess transactions could be traced in the blockchain and you could probably trace it the scam funds are already moved somewhere.

But I guess they could easily use some bitcoin mixer to hide every transaction and also even if the transaction could be trace probably we don't really know the locations of this scammers, they are probably not in your country so it's gonna difficult to find them and report them to the authorities so they are just going to continue hacking bitcoin if it is easy to earn some bitcoin in there.

They do it for money.

Trying to test the system or proving something....  :D.

Most of the attacks could have been made by someone who aren't even a hacker but just a little developper or script kiddie with a bit of determination.


Officer: "Why did you stole bitcoin from people ? "

SK: "I was just trying the system bruh  8)  pentesting Bitcoin against giveaways scams"

Money has always been motivation. Scammers and robbers also have the same motivation, its always been the money. And every one of them thinks they can get away with what they do. Some of them may actually do but with the help of pros, they'd be apprehended.

Cashaa hacker wasted time since he can't get it nad exchanges today will have it frozen if sent to them. He had proven his hacking skills though.

Also once you begin hacking, scamming and stealing, you don't stop. Those people who did it once will keep on trying and one day someone will find them and get it all back.
 
DPR knew they were after him, they even knocked on his door and asked him a few questions without knowing who they were talking to and he did not run. He kept living in the same apartment and going to the same library to work on his marketplace.


About stupid thieves

https://brnodaily.com/2017/10/12/breaking-news/czech-man-sent-to-prison-for-stealing-bitcoins/

That guy was caught because when he stole those coins he bought houses for himself and his parents.

THere are more cases like that one all over the internet.

Few things to keep in mind :

1. They can use wallets which do not need KYC
2. Use mixing services
3. Make many loops which would make it difficult to track
4. Most Governments won't bother with Bitcoins much and send you a warning how you shouldn't have used it , but there are Countries where now they are a protected assets
5. People even use Bitcoin ATM's to scam people which makes it way harder to track .

It's not difficult but it's hard plus most people employed by the government needs to be efficient in tracking down the cryptocurrencies and such , therefore it does have many downsides .

Plus people think that they are super private but privacy does depend on number of factors like your wallet company, from where and how you are receiving or sending , is KYC necessary ? There are many factors to consider.

This is your assumption that the hackers wants to convert them to FIAT. Those who does hacks have months of planning before they hack they have all the things in-line, They have people who can buy btc from them. The hackers can also buy things from bitcoins anonymously time by time and sell them. They can do a lot from these kind of big hacks. Also if a hacker is risking then he will go for big not for a coin or 2.

And about the footprints I have never seen some bitcoin hacker got arrested, Stay safe!

TEX-LXRY

Frankly, the answer to the question was really very simple. A hacker or even a scammer do steal a big bunch of Bitcoin from other people's account because they do want to obtain easy money for their own use and the only possible thing that they think to make it as fast as possible is to do it on an illegal and with a criminal's big move. Since many are really wanting to have Bitcoin and even other cryptocurrencies because of their value, many are turning out to be criminals just to make impossible thing of obtaining cryptocurrencies that instant into a possible thing by doing scamming or hacking.

Big time hackers will not leave any trace or footprints of the crime he make. Only newbies or those that who doesn't really know what they are doing are the ones that are easily track down because of obvious acts they have made. For sure, it takes a lot of courage and effort for the hacker to plan how he will going to execute everything to achieve his goal and will do all to the extent so that he won't get caught for such an act. It was too dumb if you will just hack a big amount of Bitcoin and you would just let yourself be tracked down and get caught easily. For sure those that can attain to do big works are already professional into that field and have the courage to do that.

Usually, these hackers throw them to mixers so they will be leaving no tracks. And thay point, obviously the price of bitcoin will be affected like the talks of the past dump last month. We can't really say it is mainly because of those hackers but still, with a lot of bitcoins to dump to a mixer, that would leave a mark.

Easy money.

This money can be used either for good or for bad purposes depending on the hackers but most likely for bad purposes. In this case, the hackers will just use mixing services and it is good to go already. Now the question is if the receiving address does have previous transactions from different addresses to because it can be a loophole for the hackers since they can trace it.

Either way, numerous Bitcoin scams and hacks have happened within the past years. These are just a proofs that we must be more secure when we are holding huge amounts of Bitcoins.

Yea not happening. If it were in the real world where data was kept in physical records, possibly, since there are thousands of records that could be added monthly and so, such record may just be buried, but since it's stored on the internet where if you know how to, can be simply looked up, letting it rot for a long time isn't a solution.

Even if they do use it in its form as BTC, they'd still be traceable you know? And afaik, exchanges blacklist said marked wallets so that they aren't able to use their services. As for e-commerce stores that accept BTC, they also probably have some sort of setup for that, and even if they don't, there'd be more of it in the future.

And that's why there are trusted mixers out there. They basically ask for a fee when mixing your coins, making quite a profit in the long run. Ofc, there are mixers that are scams, but mixers have been out there for a long time already that you can already look up those trusted and those that are not.

This is the reason why some mixers got the reputation of mixing ill gotten bitcoins. But that's the purpose of mixers, anonymity at its best. But if you are a user who wants to use this kind of service, better use the known and reputable bitcoin mixer, because a lot of them are scammers. The first time you use, you can still get your coins but the second time, they won't release it.

Like a conventional thief or robber, you will try to get as much as you can carry but in the case of bitcoin, you can take all of it because you do not have to worry about the weight, they can be stored in a HD wallet that is the size of a calculator or phone, regarding their footprint, there are a lot of bitcoin tumblers/mixers that are available, if they are prepared, they might even have their own illegal tumbler where they can process it there, in my opinion a good countermeasure for these is not trying to chase the stolen bitcoin, but rather than that they could atleast flag the stolen coin so that they have a very small options where they can use it and most people do not want to deal with stolen things because they can get implicated.

Right now the easiest way to send large amounts of money and as quickly as possible is sending bitcoin/cryptocurrency.  In a way, the fact that hackers now request bitcoin is an advertising example of why it's great as a transacting money system.

Have you ever heard of the people who want to see the world burn? Those are the kind of people you meet at school, where they destroy things just so others can't have it.
If a hacker can exploit a bug or something and get your money, he will do it even if it means the coins get burned or blocked and nobody will have them. They steal because they're opportunists and consequences don't matter. There's always a chance they'll get to spend them one day.

why not? hacker or any criminal won't say why I shouldn't do a wrong thing.

and for footprints and anything related they always find a way to get rid of such stuff, don't forget that such big number makes it easier to pay parts of it to more criminals helping him cleaning it.

I believe they are not.
Imagine if a hacker hacks 300+ Bitcoins hacker mixes 1 Bitcoins from 5-6 mixing sites how can you trace it back or if they simply do deposit/withdraw on several sites what then? There are many possibilities for them to leave no tracks man! And tell me some story where they have captured some bitcoin hacker?

TEX-LXRY

Why not? If they're fast enough they can cash out before anyone can get on their tracks and leave unscathed. It's a risk some people consider very worth taking.

It all depends on who is executing the hack and how confortable he feels with the following steps of the hack

Hacking exchanges and accounts are not easy. Even they have knowledge in computer software or intercepting accounts, it may take time for them to steal some privacy such as email and passwords. In fact, even making phishing site is really difficult to do. That is why hacking is a one time big time event. Imagine, they took a month before they discovered the internal security of an exchange and they only want a one dollar of the customer. It is really useless and waste of time.

Well you could make your own set of 3 different mixing companies.  Knowing you did a big hack.

Wait six months

mix to first company
mix to second company
mix to third company

 then sell

It was a shady exchange and i doubt whether there was any real hackers behind the scene and the team behind that might have moved the coins and have went through mixers and expect that they can blame on a hack and never return the customers anything and with the halving and the rally expectation i expected many hacks like these.

Im unsure of the reason but I do know they don't care about footprints so much. They probably feel invincible. I can't see why they wouldn't be able to get away with taking it just like any other crook. If you rob a bank you have the same problem. You need to find a place to put the money. So like many have said they will use a mixer. If I were a hacker I would deposit the bitcoins all over the place and invest in projects and be paid in another coin the sell that for fresh bitcoin. Rinse repeat until its all done. I guess hackers could invest in ICO projects since there so many after hte mix their coins. I can't imagine how they will be traced then.

We can't also blame mixers about this because, in the first place, they are not asking anyone where is their money coming from before they allow it unless it becomes suspicious. Though they leave such footprints but this will be not enough to hunt them down, are still anonymous at all. These hacking issues wouldn't have an end, they are targetting those huge exchanges and sadly it comes to a point that they become successful. To think that these scammers are really smart because no matter how exchanges put strong keys they can actually crack on it because it is supposedly not.

There are ways to bypass this types of security even though Bitcoin is pseudonymous by using fake informations and mixers. For instance you could withdraw all the money through converting it to a fiat currency then passing it into a dummy account in the bank so there are no traces.

They can find ways to bypass and withdraw the funds in my opinion. Hackers will find other solutions on how they can break the security. Remember, they are stealing huge amount of bitcoin. This is they are aiming to have bitcoins in an instant ways.

calling it profitable will only depend on how you earn it . if your job is hacking and targeting big corporations and people , you can say it is verry profitable but other than that will cause you struggle  .

 they can continue to exist because if they caught , their bosses can pay the police to withdraw them in jail and do their illegal hacks again and also they arent only compose of one group but there are many hackers around the world  .

Using mixers then send it to dummy accounts that allowed them
to withdraw the money.
Hackers are hackers, they've always find ways to make things to
happened according to the plan.



They are breaking securities and for sure they are well prepared
in order to complete their intentions.
Easy money once they've completely process everything, hackers
are  smart and coexist with everyone.
They've planned ahead to compensate from this illegal activities.

Hackers are criminals, they will target those with huge money, 336 Bitcoin is huge, all criminals have the feeling that they may be caught by the authorities just like other criminals in real-world but they still keep on doing it because they are so greedy on money, they put their lives at risk by stealing money, they also have many ways to make their action clean just like the other says.

This happened because they are using centralized exchanges, it's not the disadvantage of "the decentralized world of cryptocurrencies". There's a lot of ways to secure your coins while still avoiding using this kind of services. Use decentralized exchanges, local exchanges, or exchanges with another person. Don't trust centralized exchanges as it is susceptible to hacking and you don't really own your cryptocurrency that way.

Stealing the cryptocurrency itself is next to impossible.

The network can be faked and you can change locations, some block explorer only includes ip when transactions. There are many ways you can do to avoid detection, it could be by dividing into several addresses. If you know someone deepweb you can trade with them. This will not be difficult if you understand network security techniques.

Hackers do not exacerbate the reputation of bitcoin in any way, they just keep using it because bitcoin fully fits their expectations regarding what money should trully be. If bitcoin weren't money that has hardness, liquidity, decentralized nature, it wouldn't be demanded by hackers, bitcoin wouldn't be demanded by honest people not involved in criminal activities either. Bad reputation of bitcoin is a myth, which has been promoted for years by media, governments and other parties interested in bitcoin's demise. After recent Twitter hack had happened, everyone was publishing articles with the "Bitcoin scam" in titles trying to convince people that Bitcoin is a fraudulent tool to fool users of Twitter. As we have learned, it was not bad advertisement for bitcoin, now its price goes up quickly.

Well said this is a huge amount of BTC we're talking about 336b once a hacker always a hacker. Everything is well planned and their mission is on how they can take out the money that they steal. I bet these people are experts of this doing so the obvious reason because they can have it without complication

You seem one sided with your analysis, you obviously dont how extreme people go with  crime. Do you know that people rob stores were they are obvious CCTV cameras? So these things happen out of impulse, and greed.

Greed push a harker to steal Bitcoin, and if he succed , the same greed will push him to take it all. Imagine wasting time and resources to hack only to cart away with just a few token.

 I am not sure if a harker identity is exposed if he steals huge token, we all know Bitcoin is decentralized and anonymous, so the hackers identity is completely safe.

a hacker of course has an efficient way to get rid of traces so that his Bitcoin can be converted into fiat, maybe one of the things he can do is to divide the bitcoin he gets by confirming it into several altcoins, the rest may be stored for a long time in some different wallet

With the advancement of technology, new methods of hackers are coming out. Hackers are constantly changing their names and addresses and trying to delete their footprints.
However, many things are possible if the law enforcement wants. I will not say only we are wrong, but it is possible to prevent if the government wants.

I don't think they would ever be able to hold it for long that it would just be simply forgotten. Usually these hacks affect a large number of people, and many of these will check regularly to see if the funds have been moved. Even if the number of people checking does dwindle over time, there will still be the odd guy that checks every year or so, just in case (someone just like me).

I was scammed for 14 BTC back in 2016 and the guy still hasn't moved the coins. I still check the address on etherscan every few months, just in case.

Also, it's not that hard to cash out illegally obtained Bitcoin's, there's a few wallets like Wasabi and Samourai that feature built-in fungibility and mixing tools. Though these might be breakable if somebody has enough data about the participants involved in a mixing session.

Hackers do have the guts to steal a huge amount of bitcoins, even their addresses are publicly broadcasted and permanently stored in the bitcoin network because they have their ways for them to be difficult to trace.  Rumors says they used a bitcoin mixer to mix their coins with different users to preserve or hide their identities. It is why we don't have a chance to fight back or retrieve our funds once we get hacked by hackers.

Do you really think that this reason will stop them on cashing out those stolen bitcoins? One use of mixers or even trying to break down those coins into several wallets will be already hard to be traced.

As a hacker then of course you would surely go after with big money and converting those to fiat would be no problem.If they can be traced up in the first place then we wont

see any hacking incident on this crypto-space.You dont know much of on the basics in talks do anonymity and how do crypto works.

Well honestly the answer for the question would be a simple one. Hackers do steal huge amounts of Bitcoins to obtain instant or quick money coming from other people's accounts that will be used for his own sake. The common reason why people do common crime like stealing is to of course obtain what other people own to make it as their own property.

Professional hackers won't be afraid to get caught on stealing huge amount of Bitcoins because for they have really planned a way and won't leave any traceable evidences of the crime they did and that's for sure. They know the risks of the action they have done and they are prepared on the things that would come most specially the consequences that could happen.

Both hackers and scammers as well as those thief share the same agenda of obtaining what they do not really own and to be able to make that happen, they would do anything assuring that no footprints will be left behind. The only reason why they do that is to of course provide their wants by having other people's property.

But we they can be pinned down if the hacking incident has been noticed already and the wallets used by the hacker has been tagged for such doing, but I don't also think they are stopped since provably they are waiting for the heat to subside and they will do their next action once people didn't watch them so that no one will notice on their transfers.

There are so many reasons why hackers steal Bitcoin, in my opinion the strong reason why hackers are very interested
in Bitcoin is because of Bitcoin not within the reach of the government, in contrast to fiat which does have to follow
regulations that have been made by the government. So in other words the risk of Bitcoin theft is far safer than stealing
fiat. Moreover, Bitcoin is anonymous, so it allows hackers can do transactions without the need for KYC procedures.
So no wonder illegal activities that use Bitcoin continue to increase.

I believe you forgot about Mixing company or you have no idea about that?

Hacker can easily send the amount to mixer and then boom traces are gone.

and also i believe that the hacker can put the Bitcoin in gambling sites and then make some roll before taking it out?or they can be a gambler itself so betting will be the place of these Bitcoins.

it will never be forgotten mate,unless the claimant died before he took the bitcoins out.

and how would we know that hackers will still alive when the time comes?

the best way to spend the bitcoins  is  to Gamble  it.

There will not be any hacker anymore if the case as you said. If the hacker still trying to hack some exchange and steal bitcoin and all the victim's asset it means they have many ways to cash out digital currency into money fiat. In the digital form esepecially in the internet network we can't expect which is really clear because you will find another ways to open which you really have never seen before. Like  a few years ago, many government banned bitcoin and crypto currency to use in their country and will be jailed for those citizent who still using. But in fact, that was a useless thing, you still have many chance to use bitcoin and traded it freely.

What kind of question is that, why hackers steal Bitcoins? It would be like you ask why bank robbers rob the bank. They want.money, of course, and it's still easier and safer to hack Bitcoin wallets than rob the bank or similar.
Also we have to be honest and say that many Bitcoin services like exchanges and similar as well as private persons don't care enough for security so in many cases hackers actually have easy job.

This is the answer that I was waiting for it was pretty obvious why they do it, Of course they want the money and why wouldn't they steal a small amount if they could do it big time?
Why would they waste their time on doing it little by little?
It would just be the same they would steal but the difference is the time that they would spend to accumulate the same amount.

Believe me if hackers are hacking and stealing bitcoins they have ways to cash them out without leaving footprints some of this big time hackers have ties with Gangsters and The Mafia And the Mafia has people working in the inside to make things go smoothly without any problems

May be..But that same technology will expose the real source of your Bitcoin. Just ask Hugh Brian Haney, the seller of millions worth of illegal drugs on Silk Road while hiding behind his alias of ‘Pharmville”. He was arrested this year and now faces the better part of the rest of his life in prison, despite trying to disguise the source of his Bitcoin. The feds precisely traced the source of his cryptocurrency to drug deals on Silk Road.

If you think about the actual stealing, why would they steal money on some pawnshop or banks if they will leave any pieces of evidence that will lead them into jail? Even though it's a very complex action, there are ways to be your stepping stone in these situations.

Definitely, there are other methods or 3rd party platforms that will help you to clean your traces. Hackers will not just hack, if they have the capability to hack a certain wallet then maybe they also have the intellect to use a mixer. Since people already mentioned it, try to read this article; Why hackers use bitcoin and why it is so difficult to trace? (https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/why-hackers-use-bitcoin-and-why-it-is-so-difficult-to-trace)

There's a lot of ways, bitcoin mixer is one. And if you are asking why do they steal btc, its because they know ways so that the stolen btc will not be tracked. They know how they will not be caught. They are smart for hacking huge amount.

Isn't it obvious too that a thief steals because he needs money to be rich as easy as they can. I'm sure they also have a plan for that stolen btc. Who knows what is it, same with their intention in stealing btc's.

what does working inside mean?  inside job ? or does that mean they have people working on jail ? i saw that on movies and movies are sometimes based on real life events right ? so that must be true but inside job can occur rarely because crypto businesd like exchange dont hire many people unlike to police .  now i know why hackers stole big money and they are not afraid to get caught  . that creeps me more because they are like imortal in other words

   I don't think hackers are deceiving people, scammers do that, hackers hack! They have knowledge to compromise digital
devices, you need to have skills for that. Why they steal Bitcoins, because it's digital, you can't steal gold with hacking. Why
people steal is known, for financial gains, for the excitement probably as well!

They are everywhere and you have no idea when or where they will attack you with their extraordinary hacking skills. Luring people is one of their strategies and you should be aware about your assets because bitcoin is not that easy to earn. Some of the hackers can probably came from other countries so that they aren't easy to catch or capture. They also use different IP addresses for the authority to not to track them when they do investigations. Hackers are absolutely professional on that kind of activities so that if your bitcoin was hacked, say goodbye to your investments, you are also responsible with your account, so as soon as possible, become aware and increase your security.

Basically the answer was already pretty obvious. If someone wanted to obtain money but do not want any drop of sweat because he wanted to acquire what other people have and claim it to be his own, he will do whatever it takes and that way includes hacking. In simple words, hackers do steal money because they want to have it for their own. Hacking and scamming share the same idea of obtaining other people's property to make it their own money instantly. The strategy are in different approach but it is the same goal, that is to have other people's money.

Hackers are up into the challenge of obtaining large amount of Bitcoins because of the value it have and they use their skills and knowledge on technology where cryptocurrencies relies. Professional hackers are the only ones who have the guts to steal large amounts of Bitcoins for they are confident of their skills and won't leave any footprints to track them down they have their own ways to exit the crime they have made with no sweat for they know what they are doing.

I have always said this hackers are not amateurs they know how to make deals into fat accounts, but I never knew they use to have problem after hacking, that's why I will always suggest you don't do unnecessary hodling, so you won't end up gathering your food for them. They are also getting ready for bull run now to cart away peoples account. If there is no solution/control to this hacking cryptocurrency as future currency may not be encouraging.

That hacker will have a high skill to break the security in the exchanges or website so that they can penetrate inside the database. They can steal the information inside the database, including taking the money. Their reason to steal a huge amount of bitcoin is that they want to make a lot of money from bitcoin, especially bitcoin price can increase more than $10k. They will try with many ways to break and steal the money.

Using bitcoin as payment for hacker most easy and hard to detect the owner of wallet than using other currency payment, but other side make bad reputation for bitcoin looks terrible because bitcoin will be negative reputation for investment at the future and keep going on.

Alas, this is not the only way.

You can use a bitcoin mixer that will hide your trail, albeit not completely.

You can invest these bitcoins in some kind of scam pyramid and immediately withdraw them, this will also partially hide your trail.

You can use a number of crypto exchangers by exchanging bitcoin for another currency.

As you can see, there is more than one way out of the situation.

Yep, and its just dumb for hackers for them not to consider such step before making any fiat cashout because they are just simply putting a bullet into their own head if they do just directly
make out transactions without mixing or hiding their trails.In most cases they are pretty aware on that scenario and they arent just kids that be too careless on hiding themselves.
There are several occasions of hackers being caught but i do believe that they do just simply forget the basic assignment on hiding up their tracks.
Why do hackers steal huge amounts? people are greedy and if they do saw money making opportunity then human will normally react.

From that option, I think I will agree with the last option, which uses some crypto exchanges and exchange bitcoin for the altcoin and send it back to another wallet or sell it into another exchange. That will hide our trail, and I think that will difficult to trace because we already exchange for another coin before we get that the money. I am sure that the hacker already thinks about the way to escape from the investigation and will enjoy the money.

There are different types of theft, some steal the treasure kept in the house, some steal the money of the bank. Hackers are criminals in the online world, they are thieves too. Hackers hack and steal bitcoins, they can steal bitcoins without any footprint and easily convert them into cash. There is no authority control here and it is easy to hide huge amount of wealth. So I believe hackers are more attracted to bitcoin.

That is not true, if you are stealing bitcoin it will have a footprint and the entire world can monitor the trail and hope you have heard about blockchain :P, you can just go through the entire transaction from the genesis block till the very minute of your existence and how can you even say that it can be anonymous. If you are a miner you could somehow hide the wealth even then you need to explain why you are consuming huge amount of electricity.
If you read news then you will learn that hackers who used bitcoin to scam were caught, with bitcoin you cannot attain complete anonymity.

There are 2 things why bitcoins can be hacked, the first is the carelessness of the owner and the second is an insider's job, that's just my analysis, I know Bitcoin cannot be hacked, because it is always safe for all users, we all know hack cases are not only happens to cashaa even more than you know, as usual they keep it when the time and the price increases they will sell it, but it looks like it will not affect the current and future bitcoin price even though they sell it

This hackers are absolutely lazy people who just want to steal big amounts of BTC, and converted it into fiat. Indeed, they were considered criminal in Cryptoworld where a lot of individuals are working hard to earn BTC, and here they are, stealing an easy money without a trace. So, I think we need to be very much careful in storing our BTC in our digital wallets and secure it properly to avoid this kind of incident.

This has been done before and is being done now. So, information appeared that wallets were set in motion, to which hackers dropped the bitcoins stolen back in 2016. Hackers really use mixers to obfuscate their tracks and go unpunished. Many succeed in this, therefore this type of crime is now flourishing. Cryptocurrency is still very weakly regulated and protected by state bodies, in fact, there is no single international law enforcement body that would coordinate the activities in this area of ​​all states. This contributes to the growth of crimes using cryptocurrency.

Perhaps, the very first comment says it all. But here's my opinion, not all the time people will convert bitcoins to fiat, they could also use it to transact since bitcoin was made for peer to peer transactions. Well, unless they conduct KYC in order to withdraw or buy someting, they are free to circulate the bitcoin in the market.

In addition to the subject, hackers will steal huge amount of bitcoin, though it is a common sense that no matter how much they want, if they could take it all then they will. So it is advisable to diversify our assets and not just rely on one wallet for security.

Easy Money...Money is very temptation and many people has a great desire and greedy to have such wealth or huge amount of money. And to achieve that goal they are going to do such evil deeds. They have a lot of ways to hide and use what they stole. They can send it first to different exchanges and exchange with other coins before cashing out into a fiat money. But all that ways are just temporary because no one can hide from the authority forever.

The scammers steal a real and great amount of money because they want to keep a big amount of money for the long run in terms of stealing these coins from others. And those scammers are too lazy enough because they only want the easiest way to earn money instead of working hard to gain money. It saddens me to hear that during this time of pandemic there are still scammers who has no mercy.

Even in the long run it still will be kept under close survillance as it is known to be a stolen fund. How will 336 btc be forgotten even in  a long run, the long run might even increase the price of the btc thereby increasing the demand and price..

This only shows that bitcoin can never be cheated. Unlike in banks, atm, they can be cheated and the one who steal the money cant be found.

The longer they stuck the BTC there, the closest it may lead to tracking them because there are lots of experts developing some ways to track those scammers right now. As you can see we don't have technologies before like what we have today. they just making it worse for them. I think that's just some retribution for what they have done to the real owners of those BTCs. There are lots of hacking incident has happened before and those hackers who haven't move their coins till now might become vulnerable to be tracked if they going to move it right now. everyone will notice because someone has successfully create a program that signals people if a certain amount of BTC moved from a hacker address. Like I said we don't have this kind of technology back then but we have them know.

In my opinion, the hacker steal it because they want to acquire huge amount of money or eventhough the security of bitcoin is complicated, they want yo test that system in order to create or maybe to create ways in order to hide the identity of the hacker and the location of stolen bitcoin. Maybe they want to have test and research on how does bitcoin security works and someday they can create a counter tactics to successfully steal bitcoin.

Hackers steal bitcoins to convert into fiat and use them freely. They are theif of a digital wallet, they use their experience and lackings of the managing system. They also upgrade their way to steal and try to control situations in favor of them. This people always will be the same unshamed.

I think the right question to ask is "how can they exchange the coins?" It seems they know it's possible and they know they can pull it off so they give it a try. It's hard to think anyone would take the risk of stealing coins without a foolproof plan.

The answer is obvious, they need large amount of money. In order to get that, they resulted to stealing bitcoin. Bitcoin is insanely high value, and can provide anonymous transactions history, which provide them added convenience. Even though nowadays there are methods to track bitcoin transactions, this lessen their efforts to become more covert.

Hackers steal in BTC because it's the most valuable digital assets available. So, they target BTC most of the time. And loosing the bitcoin footprint is not so hard for them. There is many ways available. Using mixers and transactions in dark web can be solutions for them.

The bad guys steal bitcoins for their own good. Sometimes those thieves has personal matters and problems financially that needs to be solved that's why they are stealing coins instead of trading or mining to earn
it because for them the easiest way to earn a great amount of coins is by stealing it though I understand them because we are all willing to take risk just most especially if we are talking about our families but stealing is really a bad thing that's we shouldn't tolerate this kind of habit.

Everyone is eager of making money. Hackers are one step above, because all that necessary is the celebration. When a hacker successfully hacks and stole some data or some data he'll be with heavenly feeling. Based on my knowledge about hackers, they just focus on large volume of fund hacks to show their potential.

Hackers are highly passionate towards it, and go to any extent as they know how to stay anonymous. We may say it is possible to have track of the person, but this isn't happening with every hacker. One in ten gets tracked while the rest stay safe.

^ You are definitely right, they are always waiting to take advantage just to hack people for easy money. That is right, just for money and any valuable thing could be hot into the eyes of theft and hackers belongs to that group, a theft on the internet. But if we are careful enough of our bitcoin holding we did not afraid of hackers. Double our security and should have knowledge on how to keep safe our crypto-asset not to steal by them. They are everywhere waiting to have a victim, don't be their next victim and should secure your assets in a better place. Nevertheless, those who have hacked in crypto are lack of knowledge.

It is because there are also many ways how to get away with it. There are bitcoin mixers where it makes your stolen bitcoin untraceable when you transfer it to your main wallet. It is also complicated to chase these bitcoin thieves so most of the victims doesn't go all the way of these stuffs to track them.

What can user do is divide all his bitcoin to multiple wallets and secure them as much as possible.

Because bitcoin is popular in many people and many people invest in bitcoin and so lot of user one of us is bussiness man/women  that's why hackers steal huge amount in bitcoin cuz bitcoin has a huge money.

I think, A programmer or even a con artist do take a major bundle of Bitcoin from others' record since they would like to acquire pain free income for their own utilization and the main conceivable thing that they think to make it as quick as conceivable is to do it on an illicit and with a criminal's huge move. Since many are truly needing to have Bitcoin and significantly different cryptographic forms of money in light of their worth, many are ending up being hoodlums just to make unthinkable thing of acquiring digital currencies that moment into a potential thing by doing defrauding or hacking.
Big time programmers won't leave any follow or impressions of the wrongdoing he make.

There have been thousands of exchange hacks and other robberies till date in the cryptocurrency sector. In how many cases, the perpetrators were caught and the funds were recovered? We had the Mt Gox hack more than 6 years back. Till now, not a single penny have been recovered and none of the thieves have been caught. The same can be said about those who hacked Cryptopia and other exchanges. Perhaps this is the reason why criminals continue to target cryptocurrency-related businesses.

They will probably split it up into many many small transactions and use many recipients to try to whitewash the entire stolen amount through time. That way it would be a huge task to puzzle it back together to the source.

They will probably also wait a while until people have lost interest before they start doing this.

Hackers are attracted to honey pots (large amount of Bitcoin).

Criminals will always continue to commit crimes.

Use open-source software like Wasabi, Samourai, Core, Electrum etc (always verify updates are legitimate through GitHub) & use a good hardware wallet like Cold Card, through a node your operate. If you exercise good practices, your chances of getting hacked are close to zero.

Also hackers could CoinJoin/Lightning their way to fiat, a lot don't seem to - which makes no sense. If you have the skills to hack, you should know basic privacy techniques...

in this part some uses Bitcoin mixer or mixing company,But sometimes this hackers are just a player in which Inside Job is the real issue.
they will hack the amount and will let it in the wallet for long until its forgotten lol.
exactly what i say but of course there are other ways,because the real hackers will have a good plans in which way they will take this out,Only newbie hackers are having that kind of difficulties as what you mentioned.

Bitcoin has its own advantages and disadvantages. Unfortunately some of its major advantages can be its demerit as well. For example, it is very difficult to trace Bitcoin unless the user converts it to fiat using any of the exchanges or platforms. In case the mixers are used, then it becomes almost impossible to trace the transactions. The hackers are using this disadvantage to stay hidden from the authorities.

I don't think the hacker are stupid and have no knowledge of how they should hide all those looted asset and sell them without being identified. Too many cases go by without anyone being caught for hacking. I think they have good facilities to hide and disguise everything and they will be safe from the authorities.
The hacking attempt is very well done and take a long time. It would be futile if the hacker did not target a large number because it was not worth their hard work and patience. But whatever, I never forgive those who have committed crime against innocent people.

just like in real world, you have successful robberies and unsuccessful one
that is the same with hacking, you have successful hack, with hackers taking a large amount of money, and you have unsuccessful one as well, it is usual connected to hackers abilities, but small things could help to detain hackers as well, you never know where they will fall

it is the same with scams, with scams that are well organized and prepared having more chances to success in taking money from people, but you have many lazy and unsuccessful scams as well

Black hat hackers are very sneaky. If they are at the level which they can do this kind of damage they most likely know how to "roll their bounties" so they are not exposed.
Mixers are one tool and maybe they have a network of "agents" who are getting a share to exchange the BTC through various means. Or DEXes.. There are now so many ways to move the BTC, but of course there is a certain risk of being tracked as always. I guess it is just worth it for them.

The reason why OP posted this question to know the possible reason for a hacker to steal a huge amount even if they can't convert it to fiat without leaving a trace.

For me, this is a nice question. I also wonder about their true reason. But my guess is just like other criminals. They want to steal as many as possible, or they want many bitcoin for trial and error in converting it to fiat? I can't think of any other reason.

The stealing hackers don't necessarily have to convert their stolen funds directly into fiat. They are probably smart enough to avoid that. Another thing is who is watching?? Who will be watching if the hackers leave the stolen funds in peace for a number of months or even years, probably noone is watching.

Well, if you are really a smart. I think stealing of few is better than stealing a lot. It might become your endpoint once the authorities will look at you. Stealing few money is not much interested to the public. But if it arise from hundred million dollars, assume that you have only a month before you will be tracked. Unless, you have no evidences left to the scene. Now, this is the reason why OP surprised. Because you can made some money by hacking without being arrested. You just stole few. Well, either it is few or lot. It is bad to do things like this. Hell is waiting for hackers.