Cryptocurrency is all the rage. The money you can’t, see? It has a futuristic feel, and anyone and everyone seem to be buying into the trend.

Lots of those folks who are buying up bitcoins by the hundreds claim cryptocurrency investment is the ticket to a richer tomorrow, but security experts think otherwise. They’ve repeatedly warned that all cryptocurrency is extremely vulnerable and at risk of being hacked – and that includes yours.

“Is cryptocurrency the wave of the financial future, or is it as risky as experts would have you think?” asked a crypto exchange trader, also an expert in Assignment Help and essay writing service provider.

Before deciding, read on to arm yourself with all the information you’ll need about cryptocurrency hacks.

How it works?

Cryptocurrencies are decentralized and unregulated. That means there is no single country or institution controlling Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Litecoin.

• These currencies are, consequently, extremely volatile and vulnerable to risk. Since all cryptocurrency transactions are processed online, a hacker can simply break into crypto exchanges, drain people’s wallets and disappear without a trace.
• As you may expect, hackers have been following the meteoric rise of cryptocurrency and are eager to cash in on the prize.
• They’ve been systematically fading the system for years and have only gotten bolder over time. In the most recent major heist, hackers made off with an incredible $530 million in cryptocurrency from Coin check, the leading Asian bitcoin exchange, this past January.
• And experts predict that it will get worse.
• An Ernst & Young report studied 372 preliminary coin offerings between 2015 and 2017 and found that more than 10% of the funds were stolen, amounting to as much as $1.5 million a month.
• It’s not only individuals who’ve been defrauded; the report shares that huge companies have lost several million dollars on hacked cryptocurrency.
• According to Chain lysis, a risk management software company for virtual currencies, more than 50% of these hacks occurred through phishing.
• In other instances, hackers modified malware to redirect bitcoins to their wallets during a trade or purchase. This scam is particularly nefarious because the hackers snag the victim’s exchange credentials and login information so they can gain complete control of the mark’s bitcoin wallets.

By extension, this means the hackers have also accessed the victim’s credit card information and can do untold damage to their credit score while racking up huge bills in the victim’s name.

Any way you slice it, cryptocurrency hacks pose a major risk to all investors and users.

Who’s paying?

Nearly 20% of bitcoin investors purchase their cryptocurrency using a credit card – and almost 25% of them cannot pay off their credit card balance after making this purchase.

“Nearly all users use an online transaction to pay for crypto”, informed Steve, an Essay Writing Help and essay help professional and working in a crypto exchange.

• Some credit card companies are ready to throw in the towel on cryptocurrency.
• They’ve had their fair share of headaches caused by cryptocurrency hacks aimed at their cardholders, including disputed charges, fraudulent transactions, and the inability to pay for large purchases.
• Earlier this year, many major credits card companies, including Discover and Capital One, announced they would no longer allow cardholders to purchase cryptocurrencies using their credit cards due to the high level of risk and potential fraud associated with such transactions.
• Lots of financial institutions have followed suit with similar announcements, claiming the increased volatility poses a loss to the institution, which may be forced to pick up the pieces for their member if a cryptocurrency investment or purchase is hacked.

Are cryptocurrency exchanges government-regulated?

The short answer is no. The very attraction of bitcoins and Ethereum is that they are decentralized, answering to no institution or government. A little digging reveal that some foreign countries, like China, are actually taking stronger approaches toward protecting their citizens from cryptocurrency fraud and are coming down hard on all scammers and hackers.

For the average U.S. citizen, though, when it comes to cryptocurrency, you’re on your own.

Protecting yourself

Cryptocurrency transactions pose an extra risk by being absolutely final. There’s no way to cancel a cryptocurrency payment, back out on a purchase, or secure an anti-fraud guarantee from a reputable financial institution. In case of fraud, you may be able to trace the computer used to rob you, but it’s nearly impossible to identify the scammers that took off with your money.

In other words, by using cryptocurrency, you’re putting yourself at significant risk. There’s no one protecting you and no way from undoing the damage once you’ve made a payment that’s been hacked.

The only thing you can do is take proactive steps to be as careful as possible when engaging in crypto-payments:

1.) Stick to established, recognized exchanges, like Coinbase.

Only use exchanges you’ve heard of, and only those that utilize two-factor authentication.

2.) Don’t store too much digital currency online.

It’s best to store your money as actual greenbacks in a brick-and-mortar financial institution. You can keep some cash in your wallet or even hoard it in a home safe, but be careful not to put too much in an online digital exchange.

3.) Keep your OS and security software up-to-date.

Always accept and install the most recent patches and updates when they become available. To ensure your system doesn’t fall behind, elect to have it update automatically.

4.) Be wary of suspicious emails and links.

Never share sensitive information over the internet, no matter how sincere or urgent an email or link may appear to be. Don’t download anything from an unverifiable source, and keep your spam settings working at their strongest capacity.

Cryptocurrency may be the dollar bill of the future, but don’t fall prey to the many criminals who are counting on consumer naivety to make a quick buck. Use caution and be on guard to keep your money safe!

Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has rushed to reassure users after emails were sent out claiming customer security settings had been changed.

The company emailed about 125,000 customers, informing them that their 2-step verification settings had been changed. Unsurprisingly, the email led many users to believe that their account had been hacked, some of whom even liquidated significant portions of their cryptos reportedly.

• Coinbase soon followed up with a second email, informing customers that the earlier email was sent erroneously and resulted from a fault with the company’s systems rather than the work of a threat actor.

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“Our teams immediately recognized the problem and worked as quickly as possible to ensure these erroneous notifications were stopped and the underlying issue fixed,” the company tweeted following the delivery of the false alert emails.

• Over the weekend, Coinbase “mistakenly” sent emails to its customers stating that they had changed their security settings.
• This caused a great deal of worry for customers amid rising cryptocurrency hacks.
• The cryptocurrency exchange confirmed that the error was due to an internal error and was not a malicious act by a third party.

Customers of America’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, had their hearts in their mouths after receiving email notifications that they had changed their 2FA settings. The emails were sent out in error, and in an attempt to allay the fear of customers, the exchange stated that it had identified and resolved the issue.

A Costly Mistake

For customers of Coinbase, the past weekend was a chaotic one as they woke up to shocking messages from the firm stating that the security settings on their accounts had been changed. The email that the publicly listed firm sent out read that the two-factor authentication of customers had been changed. This triggered panic as users thought that their accounts had been hacked by cybercriminals.

• Coinbase has since come out to state that the message was sent erroneously and quickly sent a follow-up email to placate the aggrieved customers.
• The exchange also took to Twitter to clear the air about the error, stating that the team had “identified the issue” and have succeeded in stopping the erroneous notifications.
• It further added that the incident was “internal” and was caused by a bug rather than a malicious hacker trying to get away with user funds.
• One hundred twenty-five thousand users were affected by the erroneous emails, and the firm has pledged to gain back the trust of those adversely affected by the error.

Coinbase Fixes Up Its House

Before this time, Coinbase had been faced with unsavoury reports of hacked user accounts, and the recent errors have amplified the issues. In an attempt to get back into the good graces of its customers, the exchange announced the rolling out of voice support to offer 24/7 customer service to its users that have suffered hacks. Live chat functionality is also being scheduled for deployment later in the year.

• Coinbase was founded in 2012 by Brian Armstrong, and nine years later, it occupies an enviable spot as the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States by volume. On April 14th, 2021, the exchange went public through a direct listing that valued over $100 billion.
• Cryptocurrencies have been deeply affected by reports of hacks and scams, which causes investors a great deal of concern.
• Coinbase’s role as the first cryptocurrency exchange to be publicly listed places it in a precarious position, with all eyes being fixed on it. Fifty-six million users and assets above $223 billion could potentially be at stake given a security breach.

Why were users panicking?

Yes, even though Coinbase has never been hacked, a lot of other exchanges were in the past. An email from the company that is saying the 2FA settings have been changed must have been scary. This is because only someone’s access to the account or the phrase key can change this setting.

• Crypto has a bad reputation of being hacked from exchanges, and the latest blunder on the Matic network solidifies that. Users even said on Twitter that they thought someone had withdrawn their crypto from their account.
• Coinbase realized that it was essential to address the situation very fast. As I said, crypto users leap of faith before choosing an exchange for buying, selling, and holding coins. And this is why they said that their teams are working on this problem to fix the issue. In fact, they fixed it very fast.
• They also said that their primary goal is to build trust with their users and also the crypto community.
• Therefore, their final tweet was, “We will continue to work to gain back the trust of every one of our customers who was impacted by those notifications.”

Coinbase is one of the crypto exchanges that users trust the most. These kinds of technical issues happen, but when companies acknowledge them is when things become cool again. I guess users are relaxed now and are not going to complain about this issue again. They are also hoping that it doesn’t happen again.

About Author:

Jake Thomson is a contributing writer to LiveWebTutors. He is a podcaster, style coach and has been a blogger and a professional blogger writing about educational skills, personal development, and motivation since 2010. He has her blogging website and well-established blog. LiveWebTutors operate a team of experts and qualified professionals who will provide high-quality Proofreading Editing services.