It looks like virtual heists will be the next big thing after Pokémon Go. You should have heard about "The DAO hack", now there is BitFinex where almost 120.000 bitcoins disappeared.
The bitcoin lost 20% of its value since the BitFinex issue appeared. Last week, it became frontpage news in mainstream newspapers. Some people - I do understand their concern - contact me, wondering if this is the virtual bankruptcy of blockchain endeavours of financial institutions.
A valid reason to detail why the financial world… doesn't care.
"The transactions of the cryptocurrency bitcoin are stored on a permissionless public ledger: the Blockchain." The 5 bold blue words clarify my bold statement.
Transactions
The blockchain only stores transactions. These transactions are propagated to the blockchain by other software. Wallets, exchanges like BitFinex, … are interfaces people use to trade bitcoin. If there's an error in the software or when someone steals passwords, unwanted transactions will be stored on the blockchain.
Technology is neutral on that account: the blockchain doesn't read intentions, it merely stores what is offered. And this storage has not been compromised up to now. The blockchain is not "hacked", it is one layer up where things get ugly.
This discussion is very similar to Daesh (ISIS) using encrypted email. Email as technology is not bad, the intention of the mail sender is.
Cryptocurrency
As a cryptocurrency, a bitcoin holds a value. Even the smallest 100 millionth piece of a bitcoin, holds value. When used as a token rather than as a currency, it still holds value. Over the past years, this value turned out to be volatile. Financial institutions simply refuse to depend on a cost that can't estimated... and the European Central Bank insisted on keeping cryptocurrencies of the balance sheets. That might have had some impact too :)
Financial institutions stay away as far as possible from anything that requires the use something of unpredictable value in high volume transactions. If a currency will be used, it's because it is created by financial institutions or because it's issued by a Central Bank.
Permissionless
The bitcoin blockchain is permissionless. Anyone can join. Anyone can do what (s)he wants, within the limits of the bitcoin protocol. Anyone can offer a service/software that interacts with the bitcoin blockchain.
Financial institutions are not so fond of "everyone can do stuff" things. Their aim is to create permissioned systems, with legally binding agreements on who can do what. There is explicit permission required to join the system, which means they know who's interacting with their blockchain.
Public
Furthermore, the bitcoin blockchain is public. Literally everyone can see what's going on (take a look at https://blockchain.info/), literally everyone can start a business. If everyone can use it, no one is responsible. We all know the shared cow is often milked but seldom fed.
There is no liability on the blockchain: you make your own wallet, you interact with other people. Actors on the blockchain are faceless, pseudonymous (almost anonymous).
To quote the Ghostbusters: "If there's something weird and it doesn't look good. Who you gonna call?" Financial institutions are looking into private blockchains – they're not exposed to everyone. It doesn't imply that a financial institution is setting up their blockchain in their basement, "private" merely means that only people or organisations that are allowed will be able to use the blockchain.
Blockchain
The bitcoin blockchain is old technology. It goes back to 2008 and is actually quite limited. Financial institutions are rarely/not at all looking at the bitcoin blockchain but at other blockchains, built upon the same technology but solving the child's diseases of the bitcoin blockchain (and usually with a better reputation as well).
What happens on the bitcoin blockchain, shifting some coins back and forth, stays on the bitcoin blockchain. With homemade distributed ledger technology (the overarching term) like Corda, so much more is possible. Ethereum with its smart contracts, Ripple with its payments focus, Eris Industries, Multichain, OpenChain, BigChainDB,... the options and possibilities are nearly endless and so much richer in options and functionality than the bitcoin blockchain.
Conclusion: I do of course feel sorry for the personal losses occurred through the BitFinex "hack" (probably an inside job, no). It in fact supports the case of financial institutions working on distributed ledger technology: trust your bank, they ought to do better.