The cryptocurrency effect: Make it or break it

I was just scrolling through my favorite online forum this morning when I came across a news article originally posted by BBC; A hacker stole over $600M worth of crypto from Poly network site! Read about it here. Damn! In one of my articles, I mentioned that cryptocurrency can either make you or break you, it turns out this recent hack which has being dubbed "one of the greatest cryptocurrency heist in history" is gonna break a lot of people.

The stolen coins were said to belong to thousands of members and I'm just wondering their state of mind right now. This was one of the reasons why most people have said the world of cryptocurrency is only meant for the strong-hearted and those going into it should have it in mind that anything can happen at any time. A lot of persons has been stripped of their coin and inevitably lost their invested funds while someone else out there now has a net worth bigger than Beyonce's.

After reading up the news article, I checked out the comment section and as usual, there are some negativities against cryptocurrency as some persons are wondering about its legitimacy, as they pegged its decentralization nature merely a "formality". Some folks believed that this recent attack was carried out with the help of an insider, while some other comment goes like "I thought you guys said crypto can't be hacked", and someone else deduced that this will lead to a drop in inflation and subsequent rise of some coins (lol).

I actually believe this recent hack will hurt the crypto world and might lead to more sanctions against cryptocurrency, as already carried out by some countries (including mine). Just last year, almost $2 billion was lost in a series of attacks on blockchain wallets and exchange sites (kucoin comes to mind). Also, the rate of crypto-based scams rose last year and a large number of persons were victims of it (those hackers really got busy during the covid-19 pandemic).

The management of poly network has called on the perpetrators of the attack to return the stolen coin but I highly doubt that's going to happen, I mean why go through the trouble of hacking the site and then return the coins just because they were asked nicely? The sad thing is the funds will be difficult to trace, especially if the hackers are smart enough to transfer it to a decentralized wallet and also if they don't convert it to fiat on a centralized exchange site, but how else will they spend it or will they just keep it for a long time without touching it? Well, your guess is as good as mine.

But then again, it's quite plausible that the hackers will return the funds, especially if they are just doing it for fun (I doubt it though, but still plausible). The FBI and a hell lot of security agencies are gonna be on their tail, any sudden mistake will expose them, and is all that pressure worth it? $600m is simply too huge to be ignored.

Actually, I have been wondering about something, will the FBI get involved in this case? Seeing as it isn't a legitimate currency and it's not officially recognized. I mean, it's just like reporting to the cops that someone hacked your call of duty account and stole all your COD points, yeah I know it's a bad comparison but that's just my line of thought at the moment.

It is actually due to the difficulty associated with tracing cryptocurrency transactions that has made some countries' governments place restrictions on it in a bid to curtail its effects. Looted funds and proceeds from crime are now being moved around via crypto since it's very difficult to trace (well not totally). I heard the European Union is trying to make bitcoin traceable and remove the anonymity of crypto wallets which then begs the question; What exactly is the benefit of the anonymity of crypto transactions?