The emergence of cryptocurrency platforms (digital money systems operating on blockchain networks) has been marked by significant technical vulnerabilities, governance failures, and regulatory gaps that parallel the early development challenges of other transformative technologies. This chapter examines the systematic failures that plagued early digital currency platforms, from replay attacks (exploiting missing transaction closure commands) to agency problems (conflicts between platform founders and user interests). Through analysis of major security incidents, price manipulation events, and governance breakdowns between 2010 and 2024, we document over $15 billion in losses from platform failures, affecting more than 3.2 million users globally. The chapter demonstrates how these growing pains, while painful for early adopters, represent natural evolutionary pressures that are driving the development of more robust decentralized governance (community-controlled platform management) and security protocols essential for the maturation of the parallel financial system.