Cryptocurrency investors and platforms face a growing threat as the value of cryptocurrency hacks has nearly doubled in the first seven months of 2024, reaching a staggering $1.6 billion. according according to a new report from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.
Cryptocurrency theft will skyrocket in 2024
While the monetary value of stolen funds has skyrocketed, the actual number of attacks has seen a marginal increase, rising from 145 incidents in the corresponding period of 2023 to 149 attacks so far this year.
Eric Jardine, the head of cybercrime research at Chainalysis, attributed a substantial portion of this increase in stolen value to the remarkable price appreciation experienced by several crypto assets throughout 2024.
The debut of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States earlier this year caused a surge in the value of Bitcoin, pushing it to a record high of nearly $74,000 in March.
Despite recent market fluctuations that have tempered some of these gains, Bitcoin still boasts a solid 38% increase in value this year. Notably, Bitcoin accounted for 40% of total profits from cryptocurrency thefts in 2024, according to Chainalysis estimates.
The Asia-Pacific region in particular has been a hotbed of high-profile attacks in recent months. Cases such as the $301 million loss suffered by Japanese operator DMM-Bitcoin Due to an “unauthorized leak” and $235 million being stolen from India’s WazirX, the vulnerabilities of centralized exchanges have been highlighted.
CEXs emerge as primary targets
The report also shed light on North Korea-linked groups, known for their alleged involvement in major digital asset thefts, who are using increasingly sophisticated social engineering strategies to breach digital asset platforms. US law enforcement authorities have previously linked North Korea to large-scale cryptocurrency thefts.
The surge in cryptocurrency theft follows a record theft of $3.7 billion in 2022, which was then followed by a decline to $1.7 billion in 2023 as decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms improved their security measures and token prices stabilized.
However, the latest data suggests that hackers are once again setting their sights on centralized exchanges (CEX), which often hold large amounts of cryptocurrency and may have weaker security protocols than their DeFi counterparts.
At the time of writing, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization stands at $2 trillion after having fallen to the $1.6 trillion mark in early August. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, is managing to reclaim the $59,000 level on Friday after falling to a weekly low of $56,100 on Thursday.
Market-leading altcoin Ethereum (ETH) is also up 1.3% over the past 24 hours and is currently trading just above its key support level of $2,600 after hitting a low of $2,500 on Thursday.
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