World Crypto Global
- Written by: Jared Kirui
- Thu, 27 Jun 2024
- Israel
Cryptocurrency theft escalated dramatically in the secondquarter, with losses from hacks and scams soaring by 112% to a staggering $572million, the latest data revealed. This sharp increase followed a period ofdecline, highlighting a troubling resurgence in malicious activities targetingthe crypto community, especially centralized exchanges.Escalating Crypto LossesImmunefi, an on-chain crowdsourced security platform,reported that the total losses amounted to $572,688,861, marking a significantrise from the $265,481,519 lost in the second quarter of last year. Centralizedexchanges were the main victims, reversing the previous trend of declininglosses.The majority of the losses resulted from two majorincidents. DMM Bitcoin, a Japanese crypto exchange, suffered a colossal $305million loss, while Turkeys largest cryptocurrency exchange, BtcTurk, reporteda $55 million loss. These two events alone accounted for 62.8% of the totallosses in Q2.Hacks continued to dominate as the primary cause ofcrypto losses. Out of the total $572,688,861 lost, $564,238,811 resulted fromhacks across 53 incidents, representing a 155% increase compared to the sameperiod last year. Fraud, including scams and rug pulls, accounted for a smallerportion, with $8,450,050 lost across 19 incidents. This represents an 81%decrease from the same period of last year. Centralized Finance (CeFi) platforms were the maintargets, suffering 70% of the total losses, while Decentralized Finance (DeFi)platforms accounted for the remaining 30%. CeFi platforms experienced astaggering 984% increase in losses, with $401,400,000 lost across fiveincidents. In contrast, DeFi platforms saw a 25% decrease, with losses totaling$171,288,861 across 62 incidents.Most Targeted BlockchainsAmong the most targeted blockchains, Ethereum and BNBChain were the most targeted blockchain networks in Q2 2024. Ethereum faced 34incidents, representing 46.6% of the total losses, while BNB Chain witnessed 18incidents, accounting for 24.7% of the losses. Other chains, such as Arbitrum,Polygon, Solana, and Fantom, experienced fewer attacks but still contributed tothe overall losses.Despite the high volume of losses, there were somesuccesses in recovering stolen funds. Approximately $26,736,000, or 5% of thetotal losses, was recovered in Q2 2024, a slight improvement from the 3.9%recovery rate in Q2 2023. This indicates progress in tracking and reclaimingstolen assets, although challenges remain.This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.
