List of Major Bitcoin Heists, Thefts, Hacks, Scams, and Losses [Old]

Dear reader,

This thread has been superseded by a newer thread due to character size restrictions. A copy is left here for archival purposes; however, this copy is significantly out-of-date.

List of Bitcoin Heists
Following is the result of research on prior Bitcoin-related thefts. I have provided dates and times as I know them. The list is designed to be as accurate and informative as possible, and most of it is well-referenced. For disputed thefts, I have applied best judgement and included the ones that were most publicly accepted.

Because of the volatile nature of Bitcoin's exchange price, I have denominated heist estimates in BTC. Although not heists per se, major permanent bitcoin-denominated losses are also included in this list. If I missed any major thefts, heists, or losses, or if you have any other information to contribute to one of these events, please leave a reply in this thread.

Additionally, I would be grateful if contributors write commentary for each theft. Ideally, the theft descriptions should be as detailed as possible. Much of the present commentary is inadequate.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Licence
Factual inaccuracies
Donation
Qualification
Instructions
List of events by severity
List of events by BTC value stolen
List of events by USD equivalent of mBTC at time of theft
List of events in rough chronological order
Thefts without known chronology
- Kronos Hack
Thefts not included
- Minor but notable thefts
On watch
- Pirate default
References
Credits

Licence
This entire document is licenced under the public domain. If that is not permissible in your jurisdiction, it can then be licenced under any permissible licence of your choosing.

The author of this list believes all information contained thereof to be factual; however, the author takes no responsibility for any losses associated with factual inaccuracies in the list.

Factual inaccuracies
Although I make every attempt to ensure information in the list is well-cited and factual, there is always the possibility of error (whether on my part or on my source's part). If you find a factual inaccuracy, please report it. You will be credited appropriately for such reports.

Donation
Donations are appreciated and are accepted at 1MLSW1nmYkHqaHWNNkHSAHct6exd8fYYLX. Alternatively, consider a donation to a charitable cause. Many victims of these thefts accept donations, and they likely need the donations more than I.

Qualification
Without properly-defined bounds, this list could not possibly be complete. Consequently, several clauses below limit the scope of the list.

General
Generally, a major heist, theft, hack, scam, or loss must cause damage greater than or equal to 1000 BTC, in BTC damage only, to qualify for inclusion in this list. Thefts related to Bitcoin but with most damage in another currency do not qualify, unless customers were damaged in BTC. Borderline thefts may qualify if reasonable estimates are over or equal to 1000 BTC. Thefts that do not strictly qualify but are of significant importance are listed in the thefts not included section.

Managing Bitcoin prices
It is well-known that Bitcoin prices are volatile. Before 2011, the value of a single BTC was extremely low. Consequently, this list ignores most events that occurred before 2011. If a theft, hack, scam, or loss caused damage greater than or equal to 5000 BTC before 2011 (i.e., in 2009 or 2010), it is not listed on the severity charts. If a theft, hack, scam, or loss caused damage less than 5000 BTC before 2011, it is not listed on this list at all.

This list also employs USD cutoff values. Thefts with USD damages below the given cutoff for the year will still be included, but will be excluded from or unranked in severity lists.

Cutoff values so far are below:

Year	Cutoff Value	Severity list cutoff
2009	5000 BTC*	N/A
2010	5000 BTC*	N/A
2011	1000 BTC	12000 $
2012	1000 BTC	12000 $
2013	1000 BTC	12000 $

* These thefts are not listed in the BTC-denominated severity chart.

Included borderline thefts
Finally, another clause is provided to allow important thefts not meeting the cutoff to remain included. Borderline thefts, which have less than 1000 BTC in total damages, may still be included if their total damage when measured in June 2013 BTC exceeds 500 BTC. This measurement is based on Mt. Gox price data prior to 2013-06-09, Bitstamp price data after 2013-06-10, and US CPI data published by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Instructions
For ease of navigation, I have assigned each theft a name. Note that this name is neither official nor permanent and is used solely for ease of navigation. To search for the heading that details the actual theft, simply use your browser's Find function and search for the name. This will either bring you to the theft itself, or a link to the theft. If the latter, simply click the link to be directed to the theft.

Some links will appear in commentary and in lists. These can be clicked; their destination is set to the beginning of the linked incident's section.

List of events by severity

Dear reader,

This thread has been superseded by a newer thread due to character size restrictions. A copy is left here for archival purposes; however, this copy is significantly out-of-date.

NB: This section is under construction.
In this section, each theft is listed alongside the value stolen when converted to a June 2013 BTC equivalent. This represents the true value stolen and is generally the best list in that regard. No incidents need be left out of this list, thanks to its method of ranking based on true severity.

List of events by BTC value stolen
In this section, each theft is listed along with its rank, severity, and time, ordered by the highest mBTC value stolen from most severe to least. To navigate to a theft, simply click on the link.

Critical (≥10 kBTC)

Rank	Name	Time	Severity
1	Bitcoin Savings and Trust	20112012	est. 263024 BTC
2	Silk Road Seizure	October 2013	171955.09292687 BTC
3	MyBitcoin Theft	July 2011	78739.58205388 BTC
4	Linode Hacks	March 2012	l.b. 46653.46630495 BTC
5	July 2012 Bitcoinica Theft	July 2012	40000.00000000 BTC
6*	May 2012 Bitcoinica Hack	May 2012 Unresolved as of December 2012	18547.66867623 BTC 39000 BTC total impact
7	Allinvain Theft	June 2011	25000.01000000 BTC
8	Tony Silk Road Scam	April 2012	est. 30000 BTC
9	Bitfloor Theft	September 2012	u.b. 24086.17219307 BTC
10	Bitomat.pl Loss	August 2011	est. 17000 BTC
11	Bitcoin7 Hack	October 2011	est. 11000 BTC u.b. 15000 BTC

* Rank includes pass-through impact

Major (≥1 kBTC)

Rank	Name	Time	Severity
12	Cdecker Theft	September 2012	9222.21195900 BTC
13	Stefan Thomas Loss	June 2011	est. 7000 BTC
14	BTC-E Hack	July 2012	est. 4500 BTC
15	Inputs.io Hack	October 2013	est. 4100 BTC
16	Mass MyBitcoin Thefts	June 2011	4019.42939378 BTC
17	Mooncoin Theft	September 2011	est. 4000 BTC
18	Kronos Hack	Unknown	est. 4000 BTC
19	Bitcoin Rain	20112013	est. 4000 BTC
20	2012 Trojan	September through November 2012	3500 BTC a. 3457 BTC
21	Betcoin Theft	April 2012	3171.50195016 BTC
22	June 2011 Mt. Gox Incident	June 2011	l.b. 2643.27 BTC
*	October 2011 Mt. Gox Loss	October 2011	2609.36304319 BTC
*	Andrew Nollan Scam	February 2012	l.b. 2211.07786728 BTC
23	Bit LC Theft	February 2013	est. 2000 BTC
24	Bitcoin Syndicate Theft	July 2012	1852.61553553 BTC
25	ZigGap	2012	a. 1708.65967460 BTC
26	Just Dice Incident	July 2013	a. 1300 BTC
27	BTCGuild Incident	March 2013	a. 1254 BTC
28	2012 50BTC Theft	October 2012	1173.51659074 BTC
*	Ubitex Scam	2011	a. 1138.98 BTC
*	Bitscalper Scam	2012	est. 1000 BTC

* Unranked because USD value at time does not meet cutoff.

Borderline (<1 kBTC)

Rank	Name	Time	Severity
29	2013 Fork	March 2013	960.09645667 BTC
30	Ozcoin Theft	April 2013	922.99063322 BTC

List of events by USD equivalent of mBTC at time of theft
NB: This section is outdated.
This section houses a list of thefts, from most severe to least, by the USD equivalent of mBTC at that time. Note that USD values stolen, if any, are not included, only the mBTC value.
1. Bitcoin Savings & Trust (1834303 $)
2. MyBitcoin Theft (1110544 $)
3. Allinvain Theft (502750.20 $)
4. July 2012 Bitcoinica Theft (305200 $)
5. Bitfloor Theft (248088 $)
6. Linode Hacks (230468 $)
7. Bitomat.pl Loss (236000 $)
8. Tony Silk Road Scam (150000 $)
9. Stefan Thomas Loss (128000 $)
10. Just-Dice.com Incident (121000 $)
11. Cdecker Theft (113894 $)
12. May 2012 Bitcoinica Hack (91306.46 $)
13. XBTGuild Incident (58737 $)
14. Bit LC Theft (51000 $)
15. Bitcoin7 Hack (50000 $)
16. June 2011 Mt. Gox Incident (46970.91 $)
17. BTC-E Hack (42000 $)
18. 2012 Trojan (38000 $)
19. Mooncoin Theft (24000 $)
20. Betcoin Theft (15509 $)
21. Bitcoin Syndicate Theft (12134.61 $)
U. Ubitex Scam (11668.70 $)
U. Andrew Nollan Scam (10978 $)
U. October 2011 Mt. Gox Loss (8115.12 $)
U. Bitscalper Scam (5000 $)