Despite a decrease in crypto hacks, hackers managed to pilfer approximately $1.7 billion from crypto projects in 2023.
Improved security measures and increased law enforcement actions have resulted in a significant decrease in the amount of funds lost to hackers by crypto projects this year, dropping by approximately 50% to approximately $1.7 billion.
According to TRM Labs, which helps clients detect financial crimes, this year will likely “finish with a significantly lower total than 2022” despite all the additional hacks in December. Last year’s $4 billion total in crypto hacks included several major thefts, such as the $600 million-plus attack on the blockchain network connected to the Axie Infinity game called Ronin bridge.
“While we’re always one Ronin-sized hack away from a record year, the global focus on cybercrime is likely to at least partially mitigate activity critical to the growth of an overwhelmingly legal ecosystem,” said Ari Redbord, TRM’s Director of Policy and Government Affairs.
The top 10 hacks netted criminals nearly 70% of all stolen funds this year, TRM found. Attacks against the decentralized loan application Euler Finance, the Multichain bridge connecting different blockchains, and the Poloniex crypto exchange netted, for example, $100 million.
Infrastructure attacks — such as private key theft, which gives hackers access to a crypto project’s servers or software to steal funds or manipulate trades — accounted for nearly 60 percent of all stolen assets this year, according to TRM.
