According to report According to Immunefi, cryptocurrency hackers stole more than $1.2 billion worth of digital assets from January to August 2024, a 15.5% raise compared to the same period in 2023.
2024 Swing Trend for Crypto Hackers
As the cryptocurrency industry matures, malicious actors in the ecosystem are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their attempts to extort user funds. Immunefi’s latest report reveals that in 2024, over $1.2 billion worth of digital assets were lost to hacks and extortions across 154 specific incidents year-to-date.
Compared to the period from January to August 2023, when the total value of funds lost to cryptocurrency hacks and thefts was just over $1.04 billion, during the same period in 2024 the industry saw a 15.5% raise in funds lost to cryptocurrency hacks.
However, month-over-month (MoM) data analysis shows that August 2024 saw the lowest YTD losses – $15 million in losses from hacks and fraud across five specific incidents. Compared Compared to July 2024, when over $269 million in user funds were stolen, losses in August 2024 decreased by 94.5%.
It is worth mentioning that July 2024 brought a significant hack leading Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX, an incident that single-handedly led to the theft of $235 million in funds.
Analyzing the year-over-year (YoY) data, the loss in August 2024 was 38% lower compared to August 2023, when the recorded losses amounted to just over USD 24.5 million.
The August 2024 losses were primarily due to security breaches at two specific projects – gaming-focused blockchain project Ronin Network, with a loss of $12 million, and DeFi protocol Nexera, which saw a loss of $1.5 million in crypto assets. Other affected platforms included VOW, Convergence Finance, and iVest DAO, losing $1.2 million, $210,000, and $172,000, respectively.
Interestingly, decentralized finance (DeFi) incidents accounted for 100% of the total funds lost in August 2024, in contrast to the losses in July 2024 when centralized finance (CeFi) platform WazirX was hacked. Additionally, there were no fraud reports in August 2024, indicating that all funds lost that month were due to hacks.
Stronger security measures are the need of the hour
While recent trends suggest While security measures employed by industry players may be improving, concerns remain about the enormous number of user funds stolen across different intelligent contract platforms employing different security measures.
For example, in 2023, Ethereum’s Layer 2 scaling solution Optimism saw one of its DeFi protocols Exactly lose $12 million in user funds.
Recently, Rho Markets, a DeFi lending protocol based on another Layer 2 Ethereum solution Scroll, had a disturbing experience with gray hat hackers who temporarily embossed $7.6 million worth of digital assets before their return, but on the condition that the protocol determines that it was not an attack or hacking attempt, but rather insufficient security measures on their part.
Featured image from Unsplash.com, chart from TradingView.com
