Bitcoin’s creation was aimed at destroying the centralised nature of fiat currencies. Since its inception, it has steadily reshaped the way we think about money and how we assign value to something that is tangible or not. Yet, even though Bitcoin is decentralised it remains under the influences of the exchanges that it’s traded on.
Not only that, but while it’s gradually being accepted into the mainstream, issues with Bitcoin remain. These include a lack of regulation in most jurisdictions in addition to security problems with exchanges that are the target of hackers. With the promise that the cryptocurrency market has at reshaping the financial system, are there any solutions to fixing the issue?
Already the industry has witnessed a number of hurdles with cryptocurrency exchanges, which, in turn, is a detriment to the market as it slows development.
In 2016, a hack at Bitcoin exchange Bitfinex saw the loss of 120,000 units of the digital currency, at the time worth around $72 million, making it the second-biggest breach of a crypto exchange.
Last year, one of the oldest cryptocurrency exchanges, BTC-e, was shut down over alleged criminal acts by the site and its owner. BTC-e was also handed a $110 million fine by the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). This was for aiding crime such as drug sales and ransomware attacks as well as a separate $12 million fine against its owner, Alexander Vinnik.
The hacking of online wallets, such as MyEtherWallet[1], which saw the theft of over $150,000 worth of ether from users’ wallets in a DNS server hijacking, highlights the risks people face and that hackers will always work to discover a weak link in the system to gain access.
Aside from the threat that hacks can present to the industry,
