According to research from blockchain security firm Immunefi, cryptocurrency losses due to hacks and rug pulls surged by 15.4% in 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. Ethereum emerged as the most targeted blockchain, accounting for 85% of the total value lost in February alone.
In the year-to-date (YTD) period of 2024, over $200 million worth of cryptocurrency fell victim to 32 separate incidents of hacks and frauds. This figure marks a significant increase from the $173 million lost during the same months in 2023.
February witnessed the theft of over $67 million worth of crypto across 12 distinct incidents, representing a nearly 50% decrease from January’s total of $133 million.
The largest single incident occurred during a cyberattack on PlayDapp, a crypto gaming platform, resulting in losses of $32.3 million. The second-largest theft of $26.1 million was recorded by the decentralized crypto exchange FixedFloat.
Exploits in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector were the primary target in February, with no major attacks reported in centralized finance protocols during the month. Hacks comprised over $65 million (97.54%) of the stolen funds, while fraud cases accounted for $1.65 million (2.46%).
Ethereum bore the brunt of hacker attention in February, with 12 individual attacks targeting the network, making up over 85% of the total losses for the year so far. The Bitcoin network and Binance’s BNB Chain experienced one incident each.
The growing trend of hacks and exploits has raised concerns within the crypto industry, particularly regarding DeFi applications. In 2023, losses due to crypto hacks and scams amounted to $1.8 billion. Notably, the North Korean Lazarus Group was responsible for 17% of these losses, as reported by Immunefi on December 28.
The largest hack of 2023 targeted the peer-to-peer trading platform Mixin Network, resulting in over $200 million in losses, followed closely by the $197 million hack on the Euler Finance lending platform. The cross-chain bridge protocol Multichain also fell victim to a significant hack, losing $126 million.
