What is going on with exchange hacks? Is this really some 16 year old kid in his parents basement carrying out the cyber hacks? Most likely the answer is no. There are two or three possibilities going on.
First, many hacks are inside jobs. The hacks are owners or employees of the exchanges. Greed is hard to resist. The crypto currency/token market is like the wild wild west. It is open territory for crafty thieves and conman. Exchanges either get in over their head and are selling coins that they do not own or simple pirate the coins for themselves and head to the closet Caribbean Island. Thus you have the "Hacker attack". The second possibility is alphabet agencies conducting the heist. They have the talent and all the backdoor software necessary to carry out the hack. Why would they do it? Well, they could use the money for their off book projects. Another reason is that the hacks could create public pressure to get the government regulators involved. Perhaps they want to create an environment where the public cries for government regulation of which they would more than happily oblige.
Either way, crypto exchanges are risky. Everyone has said, DO NOT LEAVE YOUR COINS ON AN EXCHANGE. If you or I had a nickel for every time we were told this, we would have enough money to buy one Bitcoin. So, the moral of the story is this. Buy and store your cryptos off line in a hard wallet (cold storage). Do not get lazy and keep them on an exchange.
Crypto currencies and tokens are becoming too valuable. In two to three years, the cryptos will become priceless. Guard your cryptos with the respect they deserve. You could have millions of dollars worth of cryptos right now and not know it.
The recent Binance hack is further proof. Trust no one. Do not have a middle man between you and your digital gold. If you do not hold your private keys than you do not own crypto, period. The great thefts that have taken place, for me, is the number one indicator of just how valuable cryptos are now and will be in the future.
image from: coinfomania.com