Do You Know How Much Hackers Stole from Crypto in Just Six Months?

In a new report from blockchain security company CertiK, it was revealed that the cryptocurrency and decentralised finance (DeFi) sectors lost $1.19 billion due to hacks, scams, and other security issues in the first six months of 2024.

 The “Hack3d: The Web3 Security Quarterly Report” for the second quarter and the first half of the year shows ongoing security problems in the crypto world.

Released this week, the report points out that phishing attacks where scammers trick people into giving away sensitive information were the biggest problem, causing nearly $498 million in losses through 150 different incidents.

 The second quarter of 2024 saw the largest losses since the latter part of the previous year, during a time when the market was otherwise stable.

Losses from stolen private keys were also an issue, totaling about $409 million from 42 major incidents. The Ethereum blockchain suffered the most, with 235 incidents costing nearly $400 million.

Incidents included a major attack on the Japanese exchange DMM Bitcoin, which lost $304.7 million. Other big losses were $112.5 million stolen from Chris Larsen and a $90 million hack of the Turkish exchange BtcTurk.

However, there’s some good news as about $178 million was recovered and returned to victims in 18 incidents, reducing the net losses to $1.01 billion for the half-year.

The report also breaks down the second quarter in detail, showing $688.1 million lost in 184 security incidents. This is a 37% increase in losses compared to the first quarter of 2024, and much higher than the $300 million lost in the same quarter last year. 

Phishing was still the main method of attack, with $433.7 million lost in 67 incidents. Ethereum was the most targeted blockchain again, with 83 incidents leading to $170.6 million lost.

This report from CertiK highlights the continued financial risks in the crypto and DeFi sectors and the urgent need for better security measures, especially as the industry seeks to attract more serious investors and faces stricter regulations.