List of Major Bitcoin Heists, Thefts, Hacks, Scams, and Losses

[professorXY]

One of the most useful posts on this forum. thanks you a lot. I'll keep them in mind

[dree12]

You should also give the aproximate value in USD at the time those bitcoins were stolen. Because now they're obviously worth a lot, but back in 2011/2010, they weren't worth nearly as much as they are now...

I think he did do this no? He listed the value of it back then.

Yup, there is a section "List of events by USD equivalent of mBTC at time of theft" though with a note "NB: This section is outdated.".

That list used to be updated manually, which became too much of a burden. I have almost finished a script to do it for me, which saves a lot of time. I will get an updated list of events by USD up over this weekend.

[buzybit]

very usefull indeed
we all have to know about these!

[icet208]

very nice job OP..this kinda things drag bitcoin down..especially hacks..

[dree12]

Along with the planned severity list upgrade, there has been some reexamination of past thefts and some associated re-evaluations based on information not available at the time.

• Bitcoin7 released estimates of the amount it lost in 2013, which was below the previous rough estimate made by extrapolating orderbook volume, hence adjusting this theft downward in rankings.
• Bitscalper released an estimate of the amount left outstanding, which was used for the initial list. This amount was found in re-examination to significantly understate the magnitude of the theft. A new lower bound has been prepared and may be adjusted further upwards in the future. This moves Bitscalper up in the rankings; however, it remains unranked by the current criteria.

Reanalysis is taking a while so I have only done to mid-2012 so far. The list is hence updated only until that time, which also means that the new severity list is incomplete. I will prioritize completing the reanalysis so the severity list can be completed.

[RockHound]

Spent a good hour reading through list and associated articles - Many thanks OP for compiling these events in bitcoin history

[wemine]

The stickers look shocking, we must protect their bitcoins, thank you for your great work.

[dree12]

The stickers look shocking, we must protect their bitcoins, thank you for your great work.

Stickers?

[Davis14]

Man you really put some work on this. I wonder how long it took.

[dree12]

Man you really put some work on this. I wonder how long it took.

It's safe to say that maintaining the list is far more difficult than making or expanding the list. There is sometimes new information about thefts that happen years ago, and keeping the list up to date in that regard does take quite a while.

I guess you could say the list's time complexity is O(t²). Though I'm finding ways to optimize it, including the new software that generates rankings for me (so that's one fewer thing to update).

[AtomicDoge]

Due to anonymous nature of bitcoin it has to work in conjunction with a reputation system. Tony exploited his reputation as a #1 seller, cashed in on his reputation, so to speak, and fled. It goes to show that even reputation systems aren't foolproof if the person has enough incentive.

[AtomicDoge]

The signs that Tony76 was a scammer were obvious. His feedback suffered tremendously, before the scam. Heroin dealers on SR have a short shelf life, they tend to deliver for a few months and once they can't put up the buy money anymore, their habit gets them.

[AtomicDoge]

I don't do heroin but I was amazed at how this seemingly innocent canadian/middle eastern dude was able to garner such high praise, while his stats were slipping the whole time. I would look for a pakistani guy in Montreal driving a lexus with the plate TONYBTC on it. Je me souviens.

[funnynews]

Big scam in NXT hundreds of BTC stolen with a one post:
https://nxtforum.org/news-and-announcements/incredible-opportunity!/

[NotLambchop]

Thread deserves a sticky.  Thanks for keeping it updated. 

[freedomno1]

So, an update from the last thread:

• Since the last thread was full, I moved everything to this new thread. Now 8 posts are reserved and if necessary I can consume this post.
• I added the backlog of thefts that were delayed due partially to space limitations and mostly to my personal time limitations. Some are still missing because I need to research them more. They will be added in due time.
• The rankings were originally done manually, which is becoming difficult as the list grows. Hence I have begun work on an automatic ranker. This should be finished soon, but given my propensity for delaying things, it probably will not be. In the coming weeks I will also move from June 2013 BTC to a more recent standard.

Thank you to those who kept me updated!

Things left on the backlog waiting for more research:

• GBL
• Bitclockers.com
• Pony botnet
• Cryptorush
• Neo & Bee

(By the way: Feel free to reply now; the number of posts reserved is plenty.)

Since it said to feel free to reply I will take advantage of that
Also I didn't notice this thread got moved until Malevolent connected it with the Hall of Shame Thread
Hopefully you won't need the whole 8 posts for 10 to 20 years.
That said observing this thread and sigh like it or not contributing since scams are always prevalent in the Bitcoin world

Adding a few to this list

Basic Mining
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=130982.0

Not quite sure how many Bitcoins exactly were lost possibly 16000 but there is a shareholder list for a lawsuit on this at least.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=130982.msg6046183#msg6046183

From the Hall of Shame saw a few that were not listed as well so they may fit under losses
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=651315.0
There should be a few more in here but of various sizes
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=643178.msg7181923#msg7181923

BTCQuick
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=159716.msg1688643#msg1688643

Icedrill
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=269216.0

Hashfast
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=262052.0
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/05/bitcoin-miner-startup-hashfast-strikes-deal-with-creditors-for-now/

[dree12]

So, an update from the last thread:

• Since the last thread was full, I moved everything to this new thread. Now 8 posts are reserved and if necessary I can consume this post.
• I added the backlog of thefts that were delayed due partially to space limitations and mostly to my personal time limitations. Some are still missing because I need to research them more. They will be added in due time.
• The rankings were originally done manually, which is becoming difficult as the list grows. Hence I have begun work on an automatic ranker. This should be finished soon, but given my propensity for delaying things, it probably will not be. In the coming weeks I will also move from June 2013 BTC to a more recent standard.

Thank you to those who kept me updated!

Things left on the backlog waiting for more research:

• GBL
• Bitclockers.com
• Pony botnet
• Cryptorush
• Neo & Bee

(By the way: Feel free to reply now; the number of posts reserved is plenty.)

Since it said to feel free to reply I will take advantage of that
Also I didn't notice this thread got moved until Malevolent connected it with the Hall of Shame Thread
Hopefully you won't need the whole 8 posts for 10 to 20 years.
That said observing this thread and sigh like it or not contributing since scams are always prevalent in the Bitcoin world

Adding a few to this list

Basic Mining
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=130982.0

Not quite sure how many Bitcoins exactly were lost possibly 16000 but there is a shareholder list for a lawsuit on this at least.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=130982.msg6046183#msg6046183

From the Hall of Shame saw a few that were not listed as well so they may fit under losses
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=651315.0
There should be a few more in here but of various sizes
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=643178.msg7181923#msg7181923

BTCQuick
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=159716.msg1688643#msg1688643

Icedrill
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=269216.0

Hashfast
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=262052.0
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/05/bitcoin-miner-startup-hashfast-strikes-deal-with-creditors-for-now/

Thanks. I'll catch up on these as fast as possibly, hopefully today or tomorrow.

[dree12]

So, an update from the last thread:

• Since the last thread was full, I moved everything to this new thread. Now 8 posts are reserved and if necessary I can consume this post.
• I added the backlog of thefts that were delayed due partially to space limitations and mostly to my personal time limitations. Some are still missing because I need to research them more. They will be added in due time.
• The rankings were originally done manually, which is becoming difficult as the list grows. Hence I have begun work on an automatic ranker. This should be finished soon, but given my propensity for delaying things, it probably will not be. In the coming weeks I will also move from June 2013 BTC to a more recent standard.

Thank you to those who kept me updated!

Things left on the backlog waiting for more research:

• GBL
• Bitclockers.com
• Pony botnet
• Cryptorush
• Neo & Bee

(By the way: Feel free to reply now; the number of posts reserved is plenty.)

Since it said to feel free to reply I will take advantage of that
Also I didn't notice this thread got moved until Malevolent connected it with the Hall of Shame Thread
Hopefully you won't need the whole 8 posts for 10 to 20 years.
That said observing this thread and sigh like it or not contributing since scams are always prevalent in the Bitcoin world

Adding a few to this list

Basic Mining
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=130982.0

Not quite sure how many Bitcoins exactly were lost possibly 16000 but there is a shareholder list for a lawsuit on this at least.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=130982.msg6046183#msg6046183

From the Hall of Shame saw a few that were not listed as well so they may fit under losses
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=651315.0
There should be a few more in here but of various sizes
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=643178.msg7181923#msg7181923

BTCQuick
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=159716.msg1688643#msg1688643

Icedrill
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=269216.0

Hashfast
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=262052.0
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/05/bitcoin-miner-startup-hashfast-strikes-deal-with-creditors-for-now/

Thanks. I'll catch up on these as fast as possibly, hopefully today or tomorrow.

Just a quick update:

There are still 17 items on the backlog. Not all qualify for inclusion, but I need to research all of them. I will finish processing them tomorrow.

The progress on updating the severity lists (by automatically generating them) is almost done. This will be done for the current list by later tonight, and will hopefully be done for the updated backlog list by tomorrow.

Edit: Severity lists are done! I forgot to remove the old USD list; I'll have that fixed in the next update. Mt. Gox is rated -1 because that's the temporary value I put in.

[_Miracle]

Very interesting.
Is there one like this for mining equipment?

[VeroPossumus]

This was really on point. Thank you for this post!