Upbit Is the Seventh Major Crypto Exchange Hack of 2019

The recent Upbit hack is a stark reminder of the danger of storing your crypto on an exchange.

We explored seven major hacks that happened this year, each one bolder than the last.

DragonEx of Singapore lost an "Undisclosed" amount of user funds in a March 24 hack.

Hackers targeted Bithumb in March for $13 million of EOS and the South Korean exchange later learned it was missing $6.2 million in XRP. The heist came less than a year after another massive hack: $31 million in late 2018.

The exchange claims it lost no user funds in the hack.

Hackers stole a massive 7,000 bitcoin haul worth some $40.7 million from Binance in May. The world's largest exchange by volume found a vulnerability in its hot wallet, though it claims that only 2 percent of total funds were in that wallet at the time of the hack.

Funds quickly moved through a network of smaller and smaller wallets as hackers tried to wash their stolen coins.

Japanese exchange Bitpoint lost $28 million in a July hack that hit 50,000 users.

Upbit is the latest hacking victim after losing $49 million at 9:00 UTC on November 26, 2019.

As the year winds down, these hacks represent the massive - and precarious - risks exchanges and users take with their private and public wallets.