The cryptocurrency sector has long struggled with hacks and scams, leading to significant financial losses. According to data compiled by Chainalysis, stolen funds from cryptocurrency platforms increased 21% year-on-year to reach $2.2 billion – this marks four consecutive years where crypto related criminal activity losses exceeded this billion-dollar threshold. Yet despite these disturbing findings, some positive signs were observed during December; drawing praise from market watchers.
PeckShield and Certik have reported that December saw the lowest monthly losses since 2024 – totalling just $29 million, which marked a noticeable reduction from October’s losses of $115.8 million and November’s of $63.8 million. This indicates a slowing in hacking incidents, culminating with December being recorded with minimal financial damages throughout 2024.
Record Low in December’s Financial Losses
On December 31st, Certik reported via Twitter/X that industry losses totaling $28.6 million had occurred as a result of hacks, exploits and scams; this figure represents a dramatic reduction from prior months’ losses and shows the impact of increased hacks, exploits and scams on companies like Gempad (which lost $2 million due to hacker attempts on its service), FEG (1 million loss due to an error in message verification process) and others.
PeckShield Confirms Downtrend in Hacks and Scams
Blockchain security company PeckShield reported similar findings in their December analysis. Over 25 hacking incidents resulted in losses totaling $24.7 million over the course of December; this marked a 71% decrease from losses reported the month prior. PeckShield identified five hacks which resulted in significant financial losses; among these was Last Pass’ $12.38 Million loss that stood out.
Annual Crypto Theft Trends
The 2024 Web Security Report by Cyver provided insights into the broad trends of cryptocurrency theft over the last year, showing that hackers stole over $2.3 billion across 165 incidents – representing an approximate 40% increase from 2017. Deddt Lavid, CEO and co-founder of Cyver pointed to these security gaps as likely causes for increased crypto thefts.
