As we approach the final day of a massive year for the crypto industry, a recent report revealed that the sector has lost nearly $3 billion amid the emergence of new trends from malicious actors and growing security complexities. Related Reading: Solana Bearish Formation Hints At Major Correction Until Mid-2026 – Here’s The Target 2025 Crypto Losses Increase By 45% On Tuesday, blockchain security firm SlowMist shared its 2025 Blockchain Security & AML Annual Report, highlighting the severe security challenges the crypto industry faced throughout the year. According to SlowMist, the total value stolen from crypto hacks increased by 46% in 2025 compared to 2024, a trend previously noticed by earlier reports. Notably, crypto theft had been more devastating by the first half of this year than the entirety of 2024. A Mid-Year report by Chainalysis showed that 2025’s activity by the end of June revealed a significantly steeper trajectory into the end of the first half than any previous year, with an alarming velocity and consistency. Now that the year is near its end, security incidents have cost approximately $2.935 billion, according to SlowMist data, significantly surpassing the $2.013 billion in losses from the previous year. However, the number of incidents dropped year-over-year (YoY) despite the total amount of losses increasing, signaling a trend of fewer but larger-scale crypto heists. The number of incidents declined by 51%, with 200 cases in 2025. In comparison, 2024 saw 410 reported hacks. The report shared that DeFi remained the most frequently targeted sector this year, with 126 security incidents, accounting for approximately 63% of all hacks and total losses of around $649 million. This represents a 37% and 62% YoY decrease from 2024’s 339 incidents and $1.029 billion in losses, respectively. Meanwhile, Centralized exchange (CEX) platforms reported 22 incidents, which accounted for $1.809 billion in losses, led by Bybit’s hack. The February attack resulted in approximately $1.46 billion being stolen in a single incident, becoming the most serious and largest security event of the year. Regulatory Enforcement Strengthens Although phishing remained one of the most active schemes, scams and intrusive attacks continued to evolve in 2025, noted SlowMist. Therefore, scams have become more deceptive and difficult to detect, with malicious actors no longer relying on a single method of attack to deceive victims: Traditional phishing has gradually expanded into permission hijacking, malicious code execution, and supply-chain poisoning. Attacks are no longer reliant on a single method; instead, they increasingly combine social engineering, browser exploitation, new protocol mechanics, and hybrid lure strategies to form stealthy and destructive attack chains. However, the report highlighted that crypto enforcement and sanction actions worldwide displayed a “clear trend of escalation” this year, as regulatory and law enforcement agencies directly intervened “in key areas of crypto-related money laundering, fraud, sanctions evasion, and illicit financing.” Related Reading: Crypto’s Big Money Signals Change: BTC Holders Pause, ETH Whales Buy Notably, there were 18 incidents this year in which lost funds were recovered or frozen. In these cases, the total stolen funds totaled to $1.95 billion, of which nearly $387 million was successfully returned or frozen. SlowMist concluded that “the development of the Web3 industry will no longer rely solely on technical innovation. (…) Organizations that can build stronger internal security controls, more transparent fund governance models, and more comprehensive KYT/AML review capabilities will gain longer-term resilience in the next cycle.” Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
If the DeFi industry doesn’t adopt the security tools we've already built, then we will watch institutional capital deploy elsewhere while hackers fund their operations with our losses, writes Immunefi’s Mitchell Amador.
As the market soared in July, crypto hacks also saw a significant increase from the previous month, with crypto exchanges losing over $100 million in the past 30 days. This follows a concerning trend that has been developing this year, which suggests that theft from digital asset services could reach a new milestone by the end of 2025. Related Reading: ‘Hated Rally’ Coming? Pump.Fun (PUMP) Soars 30% From Lows Amid Token Buybacks Crypto Exchanges Lose $114 Million In July On Friday, security firm PeckShield noted that the total losses from crypto hacks reached $142 million in July, with crypto exchanges topping the list. CoinDCX, GMX, and BigONE recorded 80% of the total losses. Notably, Indian exchange CoinDCX suffered the highest loss of the month after a security breach on July 19 resulted in the transfer of $44 million in USDT from one of the platform’s wallets to six unknown personal wallets. Hackers were able to access the crypto exchange’s system after compromising an employee’s login credentials. Recent reports revealed that the employee was allegedly lured into a fake job task and persuaded to download and use his CoinDCX-designated laptop to complete tasks, unsuspectingly downloading files with malware. Meanwhile, Perpetual and spot crypto exchange GMX recorded the second-largest hack of the month after losing around $42 million on July 9 when an attacker exploited a vulnerability in the protocol’s first version on Arbitrum. GMX V1’s vault contract had a vulnerability that allowed the attacker to manipulate the GLP token price through the system’s calculations, resulting in approximately $42 million worth of assets being transferred from the GLP pool to an unknown wallet. Nonetheless, the incident saw a happy ending after the hacker accepted a white-hat bounty and returned most of the funds. As reported by NewsBTC, the exploiter returned $10.49 million worth of FRAX and 10,000 ETH, valued at $30 million, on July 11. 2025 Alarming Trend Continues Based on data from PeckShield’s previous reports, Q2 showed a diminishing trend in total crypto losses, with May and June recording 40% and 56% month-on-month (MoM) declines, respectively. However, the short-term trend changed in July as the total value of stolen funds surged 27.2% from June’s $111.6 million. Additionally, the total number of major incidents slightly increased by 13.3%, from 15 registered incidents in June to 17 hacks in July. This follows a broader trend developing this year, as Chainalysis explained on its “2025 Crypto Crime Mid-Year Update.” In the report, the on-chain analytics firm revealed that crypto theft this year has been “more devastating” than the entirety of 2024, with over $2.7 billion worth of funds stolen from crypto services in the first half. Related Reading: Ethereum Celebrates 10 Years: Coinbase CEO Shares Vitalik Buterin Anecdote As ETH Eyes $4,000 By the end of June, more value had been stolen year-to-date (YTD) than during the same period in 2022, suggesting that theft from crypto services could potentially increase another 60% by year’s end. Additionally, YTD activity shows a steeper trajectory into the end of the first half, with an alarming velocity and consistency, than in previous years. For reference, 2025 required 142 days to hit the $2 billion mark in value stolen from platforms, while 2022 reached this volume in 214 days. “If this trend continues, we could see 2025 end with more than $4.3 billion stolen from services alone,” the report forecasted. Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
As the market soars with bullish momentum, crypto theft has also seen a record-breaking performance during the first half of this year. A recent report revealed that stolen funds from services so far have surpassed the numbers from previous years. Related Reading: Crypto Relief: House Advances GENIUS, CLARITY, Anti-CBDC Bills After Narrow Vote Stolen Crypto Service Funds Hit $2B In 6 months On Thursday, Chainalysis shared its “2025 Crypto Crime Mid-Year Update,” revealing that digital assets theft this year has been “more devastating” than the entirety of 2024, with over $2.7 billion worth of funds stolen from crypto services so far. The report noted that, by the end of June, more value had been stolen year-to-date (YTD) than during the same period in 2022, the previous worst year on record, suggesting that theft from crypto services could potentially increase another 60% by year’s end. 2025’s YTD activity shows a significantly steeper trajectory into the end of the first half than any previous year, with an alarming velocity and consistency. 2022 required 214 days to hit the $2 billion mark in value stolen from services, while 2025 reached comparable theft volumes in 142 days. Additionally, 2025 is 17.27% worse than 2022 during the same six-month period, while 2023 and 2024 saw more moderate and steady accumulation patterns. The surge in the cumulative trend value from crypto services theft “paints a stark picture of 2025’s escalating threat environment.” According to the report, “If this trend continues, we could see 2025 end with more than $4.3 billion stolen from services alone.” However, it’s worth noting that the North Korean-linked $1.5 billion hack of Bybit accounts for most of the service losses. The massive breach, which is the largest crypto hack in history, signals a “broader pattern of North Korean cryptocurrency operations, which have become increasingly central to the regime’s sanctions evasion strategies.” Last year, known North Korean-related losses reached their highest number, with the value reaching $1.3 billion. Nonetheless, Bybit’s February hack surpassed it, making 2025 the worst year to date. Personal Wallet Attacks Surge Amid the shifting landscape, the report highlights that the surge in crypto thefts represents an immediate threat to participants. Notably, attackers are increasingly targeting individual users, as personal wallet incidents represent a growing share of total ecosystem theft. YTD, these compromises account for 23.35% of all stolen funds activities in 2025, with Bitcoin (BTC) theft accounting for a substantial share of stolen value. Chainalysis also found that the average loss from compromised personal BTC wallets has increased, suggesting a deliberate target on higher-value individual holdings. Moreover, the number of individual victims on non-Bitcoin and non-EVM chains, like Solana, is increasing. This suggests that Bitcoin holders experience larger losses in terms of value taken, despite being less likely to fall victim to targeted theft. Related Reading: SUI Eyes 140% Move As Price Reclaims $4 – New ATH Imminent? Within the personal wallet incidents, a violent subsection has also seen a dramatic surge this year, showing a correlation with BTC price movements and suggesting opportunistic targeting during high-value periods. The forward-looking implication is that, if the value of native assets increases, the value compromised from personal wallets will also likely rise. Per the report, theft using physical violence or coercion against individuals, also known as “wrench attacks,” could potentially hit twice the number of 2021, the next highest year on record. As of this writing, Bitcoin is trading at $119,807, a 14.8% increase in the monthly timeframe. Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com
The first half of 2025 exposed deep vulnerabilities in the crypto industry, with hackers stealing over $2.1 billion across 75 separate incidents. This marks a 10% increase from the previous H1 record of $2 billion in 2022 and nearly matches the full-year figure for 2024, which closed at $2.2 billion, according to a report from […]
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The organization behind one of the world’s largest blockchain networks confirmed that TRON’s X account was compromised on May 2, 2025, in a targeted social engineering attack. The breach lasted from 9:25 A.M. PST, when an unauthorized party published a post containing a suspicious contract address. The hacker then proceeded to send direct messages (DMs) […]
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The crypto payments platform UPCX temporarily halted deposits and withdrawals following a security breach that may have led to the loss of around $70 million in digital assets. On April 1, the platform revealed it had detected unauthorized access to a management account. In response, UPCX immediately suspended all user transactions as a precaution while […]
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Blockchain security firm Cyvers has reported a major security breach that affected DeFi platform Abracadabra’s MIM_Spell platform. The attack led to the loss of 6,262 ETH, equivalent to around $12.9 million. According to Cyvers, the attacker quickly bridged the stolen ETH to the Ethereum network and distributed the funds across three newly generated wallets. MIM […]
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The United States, Japan, and South Korea have joined together to warn the industry about the ongoing hacking threats by North Korean actors after observing “aggressive” targeting of the crypto industry. Related Reading: US Supreme Court Rejects Binance’s Appeal In Revived Crypto Investors Lawsuit US, Japan, South Korea Send Warning In a joint statement, the […]
North Korea-affiliated hackers stole at least $1.34 billion worth of digital assets in 2024.
A blockchain security solution by Cyvers could prevent 99% of crypto hacks and scams, addressing vulnerabilities like phishing and CEX exploits that cost $2.3 billion in 2024.
The security incidents occurred days after a researcher discovered a critical bug in a Virtuals Protocol audited contract, which was fixed.
Phishing attacks were the most costly attack vector for the crypto industry in 2024, netting attackers over $1 billion across 296 incidents.
Both CertiK and PeckShield shared data showing December was the lowest month of crypto losses in 2024.
2025 may usher in significant crypto developments, like the first Solana-based ETF and more advanced AI crypto trading bots, but it could also bring new threats.
A recent report warned about a new sophisticated phishing scam targeting unsuspected crypto users. The scheme involves fake Zoom meeting links to trick investors into downloading malicious software to steal their assets. Related Reading: Russian Companies Using Bitcoin For International Payments To Evade Sanctions – Report Fake Zoom Link Steals Private Data On Friday, Blockchain […]
The sanctioned agents were allegedly generating funds for North Korea’s nuclear weapon development program in Pyongyang.
According to Cyvers, the 40% yearly increase was mainly driven by growing access control vulnerabilities amid centralized exchanges and cryptocurrency custodians.
This year, crypto hacks increased in the total value stolen and the number of attacks compared to last year. According to a recent report, the industry lost over $2 billion in the past 12 months, with over half of the funds allegedly being stolen by North Korean hackers. Related Reading: Morocco’s New Crypto Framework ‘To […]
Crypto thefts surged to $2.2 billion in 2024, representing a 21% rise compared to the previous year. According to a Dec. 19 report by Chainalysis, this increase is closely tied to a growing wave of hacking activity, particularly by North Korean-linked cybercriminal groups. Escalation in hacking activity The crypto sector experienced 303 hacking incidents in […]
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In a video posted to X, Ilya Lichtenstein reiterates he acted alone in stealing 120,000 bitcoin, denying a Netflix documentary's speculation.
Losses to crypto phishing scams fell 53% in November, but the Christmas holiday shopping season presents new opportunities for hackers.
A $450,000 hack on Clipper was likely from a withdrawal vulnerability, not a leak, the decentralized exchange has said.
The crypto industry experienced its second-lowest monthly losses this month, November 2024, with $71 million lost across 26 incidents, according to blockchain security firm Immunefi. This marked a significant improvement compared to November 2023, which recorded $343 million in losses, representing a 79% year-over-year drop and a 4% decrease month-over-month. Year-to-date (YTD) figures show the […]
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South Korea said North Korean hackers Lazarus and Andariel were behind the $50 million Upbit hack in 2019, with the stolen crypto now valued at over $1 billion.
The industry is still recovering from the $230 million WazirX hack, which occurred less than four months ago.
Cosmos’ co-founder and core contributors were previously unaware of the North Korean link, which could lead to the removal of the Liquid Staking Module.
Global fintech Revolut revealed it prevented millions in potential losses in the last three months, using its crypto-specific measures and transaction monitoring to tackle criminal activity as malicious actors continue to target the industry. Related Reading: How Bitcoin Is Propelling A Small Texas Town Into A New Economic Era: The Rockdale Story Revolut Prevents $13 […]
A crypto investigation recently deep-dived into one of the industry’s largest problems, revealing its extent might be larger than suspected. The report exposed how North Korean hackers have targeted and infiltrated the sector, presenting many legal and cybersecurity risks for companies and investors. Related Reading: Sony’s Ethereum L2 Joins Ava Protocol To Support Creators, Here’s […]
Binance urged the WazirX team to take accountability for the hack, and compensate users for the loss of funds.