Hackers steal $2bn worth of cryptocurrency in 2023 - DeFI

The report released by De.FI, a Web3 security firm which ranks the worst-ever crypto hacks revealed the amount stolen in 2023 was a far decline from the figures recorded in 2022 which was an all-time-record of around $3.8 billion.

The security firm which also runs the REKT database stated that the reported fraud in 2023 represented the high volume of vulnerabilities in the global crypto industry as efforts were being made to address them.

The firm noted in the report it shared with Techcrunch that “this amount, though dispersed across various incidents, underscores the persistent vulnerabilities and challenges within the DeFi ecosystem,”

“2023 stood as a testament to both the ongoing vulnerabilities and the strides made in addressing them, even as interest in the space was relatively muted by the ongoing bear market in the first half of the year.”

Some of the major crypto firms targeted in the hack include; Hong Kong-based crypto company, Mixin which lost $200 million after suffering a data breach in September this year.

Others include Euler Finance, ($200 million); Multichain ($126 million), BonqDAO ($120 million), Poloniex ($114 million) and Atomic Wallet ($100 million), among several others.

Another blockchain intelligence company TRM Labs had earlier revealed that about $1.7 billion was stolen in crypto funds as at December 2023. The firm also noted that criminals had made 70% of the stolen finds in 2023 from the top 10 hacks.

Some of the attacks which include hacks from the decentralised lending app Euler Finance, Multichain bridge connecting different blockchains, and Poloniex crypto exchange netted $100 million each.

Blockchain analytics firm, Elliptic, noted that hackers mainly target cross-chain services which involves swapping of crypto assets between different tokens or blockchains, as the preferred money laundering method for a range of cybercrimes, including scams and crypto thefts.