Crypto Hack Surge as $1.38Billion Lost by Mid-2024, Says TRM Labs
Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs reveals in its mid-year report that crypto assets lost to hackers have doubled in value to $1.38 billion compared to June 2023. Here’s why.
TRM Labs indicates in its Friday, July 5 report that hackers stole over twice crypto in value by mid-2024 compared to the first half of 2023. The crypto thefts hit $1.38 billion mid-year to surpass double the $657 million that hackers stole by June last year.
TRM Labs Report Nearly $1.4 Billion Lost to Hackers
According to TRM Labs data, the cumulative crypto thefts nearly tested $1.4 billion in the value of digital assets lost to the criminal actors by June 24.
Similar to the 2023 findings, TRM Labs shows that a small number of victims accounted for most of the hacks and exploits. In particular, the largest five hacks accounted for 70% of the crypto value stolen.
The intelligence firm highlighted the 4,5000 Bitcoin theft with a value of $300 million as the notable incident suffered by Japanese exchange DMM in May. The exploit occurred via stealing private keys and address poisoning.
Per the TRM Labs report, the leading attack vectors are flash loan attacks, smart contract exploits, compromising seed phrases, and private keys.
The blockchain intelligence firm discovered no notable changes within the crypto ecosystem security relative to the attacks in 2023 and 2024. Nonetheless, the rally in crypto price is above the 2023 average, thereby boosting the tally.
Per TRM, 2024 lacks an outlier month despite the theft volumes surpassing in each of their corresponding months in 2023. The report indicates that 2024 crypto thefts trail the 2022 figures.
The TRM Labs decried the far-reaching effect of major hacks reminiscent of the suffering of traders in the defunct exchange Mt.Gox. The report comes days after Mt.Gox moved $2.7 billion in Bitcoin to repay ex-clients since it suffered a crypto hack a decade ago.
The repayment news triggered fears of a sharp sell-off, resulting in Bitcoin’s price tumbling below $54,000. The Bitcoin price plummeted to test its lowest ever since February.
Hacks targeting crypto have made it challenging for the digital assets ecosystem. TRM Labs suggests deploying a multi-layered defense strategy. Doing so involves conducting periodic security audits coupled with multisig wallets and encryption.
Crypto Hack Decline 54.2% in June
The crypto losses reported in June declined from nearly $385 million in May to $176 million. The net losses attributed to crypto hacks and exploits fell 54.2% in June.
Crypto analytics firm PeckShield indicates that June saw 20 incidents of crypto hacks, translating to a nearly $176 million loss. Btctruk suffered the largest hack at $100 million ahead of Lykke’s $22 million loss.
Besides centralized exchanges, crypto hack incidents spread to the decentralized platforms. Decentralized finance (DeFi) lender UwU Lend suffered the third-largest exploit at $19.4 million, Peckshield confirms.
Centralized Exchanges Primary Target of Exploits
Blockchain intelligence firms reported huge crypto losses in May, $385 million. Crypto exchange DMM suffered $305 million in Bitcoin in a May 31 hack on the private key.
The crypto space reported $360 million in February, with April seeing the least at $60.19 million.
Beyond the decline from hacks in June, the loss surged by 115% in Q2 2024 relative to Q2 2023. In particular, the crypto space suffered a $220 million loss in Q2 2023, only to suffer a massive blow of $572 million in Q2 2024.
The analytics firms attribute most of the quarter’s loss to the centralized exchange exploit. The loss from exploits involving centralized exploits accounted for 70%, translating to $401 million.
The analytics data shows that only a few attacks targeting the centralized exchanges succeeded. Notably, hackers exploited the centralized platforms on five occasions compared to 62 in the DeFi protocols.
