Crystal Intelligence Since 2011, hackers have misappropriated millions of dollars in resources and targeted cryptocurrencies and other digital assets, according to data from Crystal Intelligence.
Crystal Intelligence, a Dublin-based crypto compliance service, discovered that over 785 cases of different crypto hacks and vulnerabilities were recorded, with the total value of digital currencies taken reaching $19 billion over the last 13 years. This substantial loss serves as additional evidence that the crypto market is perpetually susceptible to risk.
Despite the fact that the industry has experienced numerous security breaches, a few have been particularly severe. The Plus Token, a fraud that transpired in May 2019, remains the most significant single crypto theft to date, with the perpetrators accumulating $2.9 billion in Ethereum and Bitcoin.
Additionally, this year, the second-largest crypto breach in the past two years was the $290 million cyber attack on PlayDapp in February 2024.
The schemes have also been reported to have been significantly impacted by fraud. The largest single crypto fraud operation across the platform in the past two years, the JPEX investment scam in Hong Kong cost $194 and resulted in the theft of 3 million crypto coins.
In addition, the report indicates that 2022 was the year with the highest value and the deadliest year in terms of value, with 199 exploits resulting in over $4.2 billion in seized digital assets. Cryptocurrency losses in 2023 were considerably lower than those of this year.
Nevertheless, despite the enhancements to surveillance and reporting mechanisms, various forms of illicit activity on the blockchain were observed to increase in 2023 and 2024.
There has been a significant impact on DeFi platforms, particularly those that are part of decentralised finance ecosystems. DeFi breaches were documented 112 times in 2023, during which hackers were able to steal $835 million in cryptocurrencies. The cost of security intrusions has been significantly higher, with 68 individual cases resulting in the theft of over $1 billion in digital assets in the same year.
Euler Finance underwent the most significant breach of all DeFi protocols in 2023 and 2024, as the hackers seized $197 million in Ether tokens. In 2023 and 2024, the ten largest DeFi breaches resulted in a total of $579 million in digital currency.
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