Cryptocurrency is in an interesting state of flux. More blockchain projects and money making schemes are launching than could possibly survive. This is true even if the 2018 bear market hadn’t taken place. It would be true if altcoins were keeping pace with Bitcoin’s parabolic performance in the charts.
Mt. Gox founder Jed McCaleb famously stated in a Yahoo Finance interview that “Ninety percent of these projects are B. S. I’m looking forward to that changing. Things like Tron, it’s just garbage.”
Still criminal?
Yet, for the criminally inclined, cryptocurrency remains the perfect breeding ground for their evil deeds. Returns are undeniably enormous. From all angles, risks appear minimal.
Hacking started early on in the cryptocurrency world. Hacking within Mt. Gox, the industry’s first exchange, began in 2011. However, after much investigation, it is now clear that the thefts really never ceased until the exchange shut its doors.
The Mt. Gox hack was officially discovered in 2014. It was a pretty big deal. At the time the largest hack in cryptocurrency’s then five year history, it rocked the entire cryptocurrency community.
Over 850,000 Bitcoins were found stolen. At the time, that was the largest cryptocurrency heist in history. The tokens lost were approximately six percent of all the Bitcoins in existence. In total, the loss was worth over half a billion dollars in fiat. In today’s market, the value is in the tens of billions.
Mark Karpeles, who was running Mt. Gox at the time of the hacks, was found guilty of falsifying data in March, 2019 by the Tokyo District Court. He is not going to prison for his crimes.
Mt. Gox trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi claimed in April 2019 that currently held assets are sufficient to satisfy all creditors. Despite all this, the funds have never been recovered.
Mt. Gox was the largest cryptocurrency exchange in existence. Approximately 70 percent of all Bitcoin transactions were taking place through the Mt. Gox platform.
When the dust settled, two important facts about cryptocurrency exchange platforms became crystal clear.
Lessons?
First, hacking is a harsh reality for cryptocurrency exchanges. It isn’t going away. If anything, hacking is getting worse.
A total of $882 million USD worth of cryptocurrency was stolen via exchange hacking in 2017 and 2018. The largest theft, a Lazarus attack on Coincheck in January 2018, made up for $534 million of that total.
2019 is no exception. Even popular trading giant Binance suffered a security breach in May 2019. Over $1 million in bitcoin was stolen.
Second, the exponential growth in the number of cryptocurrency exchanges available was not slowing as a result of Mt. Gox, the Coincheck hack, or any other nefarious activity within the market.
In fact, exchanges were popping up specifically in response to hacking. Cold wallets were developed. Security features like DDoS, two-factor authentication, and other smart contract-based defenses against vulnerability were implemented.
Security became a marketing point for newly launched exchanges.
This is actually not a bad thing. The existence of a plethora of exchange options provides a previously unrealized balance in the market. It is a balance that is desperately needed, especially as cryptocurrency creeps toward mainstream populations.
Better solutions
This does not just satisfy the reality that when funds are spread over multiple platforms, it is hard to hack everything at once. New platforms have new ideas, new methodologies to ensure security.
Newly launched exchange BQT does offer high levels of security to their investors, instilling confidence that their funds are safe and secure during trades. Like many of its peers, BQT also provides a built-in, proprietary wallet. This enables wallet-to-wallet transactions and decreases potential vulnerability.
BQT is also offering an educational platform, BQT University. While not a direct security feature, the adage “knowledge is power” has never been more accurate than it is in the cryptocurrency community.
This willingness to disseminate information, helping others make informed decisions about an investment path, or even a career trajectory, can be only be gauged as something of great value to the community. Ultimately, when more investors are better educated, our investments are safer.
BQT currently has 43 pairs, one of which is the Binance BNB token. BNB is paired with BTC on the BQT platform.
This listing is not just a financial windfall for both exchanges. It is a sign that, true to its intent, the cryptocurrency exchange bonanza has cultivated a symbiotic relationship between exchanges. Rather than engaging in cutthroat competitive behaviors, exchanges are working together for the good of the community.
For this, we say kudos to BQT. In an uncertain time and an uncertain market, this exchange is leading the way, using both wise and inclusive business practices to further the interactivity and support amongst exchanges, creating a safer market for all investors.