Just How Safe Is Cryptocurrency?

The Questions I Asked — And What I Discovered.

Photo by Kanchanara on Unsplash

Just a few weeks ago, Bybit experienced a massive security breach, resulting in the theft of approximately $1.5 billion in digital assets — making it the largest crypto heist in history.

This is not the first crypto heist; there have been many before, each exploiting vulnerabilities within the cryptocurrency security ecosystem. One common target is hot wallets — wallets connected to the internet — which are significantly more vulnerable compared to offline cold wallets.

There have been other heists that used phishing methods, where users are lured into clicking malicious links that expose their private keys or downloading harmful software capable of bypassing security measures and authentication protocols.

However, what truly raised eyebrows — especially mine — was that in this recent heist, attackers exploited flaws within Bybit’s cold wallet system. Cold wallets are typically considered secure due to their offline status, making this breach particularly alarming.

How exactly did they manage to do that?

Let me explain a little bit about cold wallets.

The cold wallet storage system is an offline storage solution where private keys are kept securely, making it less convenient for frequent…