Opinion: Andrei Sergenicov, researcher, analyst and writer
The founders of the encryption love large promises: decentralized financing, non -banking banks and freedom from brokers. Then breaks occur. In some cases, billions overnight disappear.
On February 21, 2025, North Korea’s Lazar Group He stole $ 1.46 billion from bybit. They sent email messages to hunt deception to employees who have access to the cold wallet. After bargaining on these accounts, they reached the BYBIT interface and replaced the Multisignature with their harmful version. When Bybit tried to move a routine, infiltrators re -direct 499,000 Ether (EthFor the addresses they control.
This was not just a human mistake. This was a design failure. The system that allows human factors to enable the theft of a billion dollars is not innovative-it is irresponsible.
People are not protected
Within just 10 days, infiltrators have converted all 499,000 ETH into an inaccurate money, using Thorchain as a basic channel. The decentralized stock exchange made a standard $ 4.66 billion in bares per week, but no guarantees were carried out against suspicious activity.
The encryption industry has created a system that cannot protect users even after discovering the theft. Some services actually benefited from this crime, as they collected millions of fees while processing stolen money laundering.
recently: Safewallet is released
In February 2025, Zachxbt and Tanuki42 investigators It revealed that Coinbase users lost more than $ 300 million annually For social engineering attacks. Their report showed that 65 million dollars stolen through hunting and other social manipulation techniques in December 2024 and Yaier 2025. According to the investigators, Coinbase failed to address the well -known security weaknesses in their API keys and verification systems that make these attacks to humans are successful.
Zachxbt has directly criticized the exchange due to the presence of “useless customer support agents” and their failure to report the theft address correctly to Blockchain monitoring tools, making stolen money more difficult to track them. He even confessed to one of the deceitful people to target the wealthy users, claiming that they were making at least five numbers a week.
These are not isolated cases. The US Federal Bureau reported that ordinary encryption users It lost more than 5.6 billion dollars in fraud in 2023And social engineering paid at least half of these plans. The Americans alone lose about $ 2 billion – 3 billion dollars annually for human weaknesses. With more than 600 million encryption users worldwide, conservative estimates are set individual losses from social engineering at $ 6 billion and $ 15 billion in 2024.
Adoption
Security concerns now Acknowledging as a major barrier to adoption 37 % of encryption users worldwide. Meanwhile, industry Continue to enhance high -risk speculative assets Like memecoins, where ordinary users usually lose money while the informed win.
While the founders put financial freedom, millions of real people lose their savings through the weaknesses that the industry rejects to address. They are an essential problem symptom: encryption builders choose security marketing.
When disasters occur, they face pressure on security failure, encryption leaders hide behind the Blockchain “law” and present philosophical arguments about self -design and personal responsibility. The encryption industry loves to blame ordinary users: “Do not store keys online”, “Check addresses before sending them”, “Never open suspicious files.”
No one is safe
Even industrial leaders themselves are a victim of the same basic attacks. In January 2024, co -founder of Ripple Chris Larsen Loss 283 million xrp ((XrpDue to storing special keys in the Internet password manager. Defiance Capital Arthur_0X It lost $ 1.6 million in non -explosive symbols (NFTS) And Cryptocurrency simply by opening the pdf file.
These people are not naive beginners – they are creators and experts in the system that has not even been able to protect. They know all the rules of security, but the human factor is inevitable. If architects in the system lose millions, what is the opportunity that ordinary users enjoy?
Knowledge of security rules does not provide full protection because fever, stress, sleep deprivation, or emotional distress strongly affects our decision -making capabilities. The attackers are constantly testing different ways, waiting for moments when users are at risk. They are constantly developing their tactics, creating increasingly convincing scenarios, plagiarism, and urgent situations.
The non -changeable nature of Blockchain transactions requires unusual guarantees – not less. If users are not able to reverse errors or thefts, the system must prevent them in the first place. True innovation means building systems that work for real humans, not theoretically ideal users. Banks have learned this lesson over the centuries. The encryption builders should learn faster.
Instead, industrial leaders appear to have lost a reality due to the extreme wealth that was rapidly thrown to them. They bought their public relations novel, imagined them as geniuses, and began to look at themselves as two depression.
An invitation to work
Vitalik Buterin His fans lecture to vote in the elections And polish it statementWhile Justin Sun He spends 6.2 million dollars on bananas For a “unique artistic experience” – all while building an environment that makes dangerous errors easy to make. This approach is essential. You cannot demand a revolution in financing while providing less security than the systems that replace them.
What is the artistic brilliance in the systems that allow billion dollars ’cores and systematic fraud for ordinary users easily? As a basic function, real technical excellence will include protecting users from permanent financial loss. The financial system that cannot secure the assets of its users is technically unlawful – it is mainly incomplete.
It is time to stop writing data and promoting doubtful public relations work designed to attract a wider and more vulnerable audience. Start building real protection that matches the level of risk faced by users. It does not matter any degree of innovation in Blockchain if ordinary people cannot use these systems without fear of permanent immediate financial loss.
Anything less is just a reckless experience at the expense of users disguised as a revolution – a scheme that enriches the founders and the familiarity while ordinary people bear all the risks.
If the industry does not solve this problem, the organizers will be – and you will not like their solutions. Your philosophical arguments about self -friction will not matter when canceling licenses and closing operations.
This is the choice that encryption perpetrators face: either creating truly safe systems that justify your claims about financial innovation or viewing while organizers convert “revolutionary technology” into a largely organized financial service. The clock is knocking.
Opinion: Andrei Sergelkov, researcher, analyst and writer.
This article is intended for general information purposes and does not aim to be and should not be considered legal or investment advice. The opinions, ideas and opinions expressed here are alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
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