By the center of 2023, hackers had stolen $657 million in cryptocurrency.
One yr later, that determine had greater than doubled to $1.38 billion, blockchain information agency TRM Labs stated in a report issued Friday (July 5).
“Similar to 2023, a small number of large attacks made up the lion’s share of the haul: the top five hacks and exploits accounted for 70% of the total amount stolen so far this year,” TRM stated. “Private key and seed phrase compromises remain a top attack vector in 2024, alongside smart contract exploits and flash loan attacks.”
The most important assault to date this yr occurred in Could on the Japanese crypto change DMM Bitcoin, with the theft of greater than 4,5000 cash valued at upwards of $300 million.
“While the exact cause of the attack remains unknown, potential vectors include stolen private keys or address poisoning—a tactic wherein attackers send tiny amounts of cryptocurrency to a victim’s wallet to create fake transaction histories, potentially confusing users into sending funds to the wrong address in future transactions,” TRM stated.
In line with the report, more cash was stolen within the first half of this yr than the primary six months of 2023, with the median hack 150% bigger. Nonetheless, thefts from hacks are a 3rd beneath the primary six months of 2022, which “remains a record year,” the corporate stated.
A report in 2023 from Chainalysis discovered that hackers stole $3.8 billion in 2022, up from $3.3 billion in 2021 and $500 million in each 2020 and 2019.
The findings come because the crypto area finds itself “at a critical juncture,” as PYMNTS wrote earlier this week.
“It is the same critical juncture, or at least one strikingly similar, that the crypto and digital asset sector has always found itself at — a juncture where regulatory developments, interoperability and scalability, and institutional acceptance are at the forefront,” that report stated. “That’s because regulations, usability and acceptance are the three key themes and trends observers believe will shape the future of Web3, a future that’s been more than a decade in the works.”
On the scalability aspect, research by PYMNTS Intelligence reveals that utilizing crypto for cross-border funds might be the profitable use case that the trade has been looking for.
The research discovered that blockchain-based cross-border options, stablecoins specifically, are being more and more embraced by corporations looking for a greater approach to transact and broaden internationally. For instance, the Solana community processed $1.4 trillion in stablecoin cross-border funds simply in March — a testomony to the know-how’s scalability.