South African investment firm vanishes along with $3.6 billion in bitcoin

Bitcoin has had a huge year, rising all the way up to $64,000 per coin in mid-April. The rise of bitcoin increased the valuation of every other digital coin as well, with some hitting new all-time highs. Bitcoin has been falling steadily since mid-April, with a series of factors impacting the course of this brutal correction. The price has dropped to around $30,000 per coin in the past few days, following several controversial remarks from Elon Musk in May and China’s renewed interest in regulating crypto.

The high volatility of these digital coins is what makes trading cryptocurrency so exciting for some people who stomach the huge capital risks for the prospect of realizing massive profits overnight. It’s what has been driving more and more retail traders, companies, and institutions to the crypto space this year. But high volatility isn’t the only danger to traders. Scammers and hackers looking to steal digital tokens can do real harm, as the nature of crypto coins makes it nearly impossible for authorities to track attackers. South African authorities are currently investigating what might turn out to be the largest scam in the industry. A local firm disappeared with 69,000 bitcoin worth over $3.6 billion, telling investors that hackers accessed and stole the funds.