Cybercriminals Inflicted over $3 Billion in Destructive Crypto Sector Losses in 2024
In 2024, the crypto industry faced a significant setback, with a staggering $3.01 billion in losses reported by PeckShield. The majority of these losses were attributed to hacks and scams targeting crypto exchanges and platforms, physical attacks on crypto holders, and technical vulnerabilities in protocols.
The first half of 2025 alone saw losses amounting to $2.1 billion, matching the entire 2024 losses, highlighting an ongoing large-scale issue. Common causes included exchange hacks with insider involvement, vulnerabilities in DeFi protocols, social engineering and phishing attacks, and an increase in physical "wrench attacks" against holders.
One notable example of an exchange hack was the CoinDCX incident, where an employee facilitated thefts valued at tens of millions of dollars. In the world of DeFi, GMX lost $42 million due to a re-entrancy issue affecting token price calculations, though some funds were later recovered. The WOO X hack led to around $14 million stolen through compromised developer environments.
Fluctuating monthly losses were observed, with a 27% increase to $142 million stolen in July 2025 alone, despite a downward trend in Q2 2025 and a 46% decrease compared to July 2024’s $266 million losses.
Ethereum was involved in 34.8% of the hacks in 2024, making it the most affected cryptocurrency. Bitcoin ranked second by total losses in 2024, with 14.6%. The DMM Bitcoin, PlayDapp, and WazirX incidents, which were not attributed to scam operations, accounted for a combined total of ~$823.5 million in losses in 2024. These incidents did not significantly affect the distribution of losses by cryptocurrency, as Ethereum and Bitcoin were still the most affected.
It's worth noting that out of more than 300 recorded hacker attacks in 2024, $2.15 billion was lost. Approximately $488.5 million in stolen assets were recovered.
The losses in 2024 represent a 15% increase over the $2.61 billion stolen in 2023. A concerning trend was the high volume of incidents driven by insider threats, re-entrancy attacks, and social engineering exploits.
The industry continues to face high-risk vulnerabilities from both cyber and physical attacks, insider threats, and sophisticated exploit techniques, as the main drivers of substantial financial losses. Despite these challenges, it's crucial to remember that ongoing efforts to improve security measures and recovery mechanisms are in place to mitigate these issues.
- The cybersecurity threats in the crypto industry continued to escalate in 2025, with losses from DeFi protocol vulnerabilities like the re-entrancy issue that affected GMX, causing a $42 million loss.
- Bitcoin, though ranked second by total losses, accounted for significant financial losses in 2024, with incidents like The DMM Bitcoin, PlayDapp, and WazirX contributing to a combined total of ~$823.5 million in losses.
- Ethereum remains the most vulnerable cryptocurrency, as it was involved in 34.8% of the hacks in 2024, reflecting a concerning trend in the finance sector heavily reliant on technology.
