- Immunefi, a well-known bug bounty site, has discovered that the worldwide cryptocurrency ecosystem lost $572.7 million due to an increase in hacks and frauds in the second quarter of 2024. This represents a 112% increase over the same period last year, according to a recent report.
According to Immunefi, the two biggest exploits of the year caused $360 million in losses in Q2 2024, or 62.8% of all damages. At 98.5%, successful hacking efforts accounted for the majority of the quarter’s losses. However, fraud only contributes 1.5% of the losses.
Users should exercise caution given the amount of money lost to fraud and hacking. It is imperative that cryptocurrency investors and users of cryptocurrency exchanges closely monitor on-chain activities and limit their interactions to reliable platforms. This also holds true for users of the greatest Bitcoin casinos who wish to play anonymously. Although consumers are drawn to anonymity, they should exercise great caution before making a deposit or placing a wager at a cryptocurrency casino.
The Blockchain That Is Most Targeted Is Ethereum
A number of additional data indicators in Immunefi’s analysis help to illustrate how vulnerable the cryptocurrency ecosystem is to fund loss. For example, the paper claims that 30% of the losses were attributable to decentralized finance (DeFi) and 70% were caused by successful exploits that targeted centralized finance (CeFi). As it was in Q2 of last year, the Ethereum blockchain was also the most targeted chain throughout the quarter. Ethereum had 34 incidents, or 46.6% of all incidents, and BNB saw 18 events, or 24.7% of all incidents. 71% of the losses for the quarter were attributable to these two chains.
With $305 million and $55 million lost, respectively, the two biggest victims were the Turkish exchange BtcTurk and the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin. DMM Bitcoin announced on May 31 that it had lost 4,502.9 Bitcoin and called the event “an unauthorized leak of Bitcoin.” On the other hand, the exchange guaranteed that the firm’s network of businesses would help pay the losses. Elliptic, a crypto security company, ranked it as the eighth-largest theft in cryptocurrency history.
Thankfully, some recovery were noted in the second quarter of 2024. To give two examples, YOLO Games lost $1.5 million and subsequently regained $1.35 million, while ALEX Lab lost $4.3 million and recovered $3.9 million. It’s interesting to note that the $21 million worth of 5,913 ETH that the Gala Games hacker took back was all restored.
This quarter’s findings demonstrate how infrastructure breaches, which can result in millions of dollars’ worth of losses, can be the most destructive cyberattacks in the cryptocurrency space.Strong efforts to protect the environment as a whole are essential, according to CEO and founder of Immunefi Mitchell Amador.
Annual Fraud Incidents Are Lower
It’s interesting to see that losses are 81% lower than in Q2 2023 when fraud occurrences are isolated. Hacks, however, have increased by 155% throughout that time. The cryptocurrency ecosystem has reported 135 incidents totaling $920.9 million in losses year-to-date (YTD). With a $358.5 million contribution, May came in first place, followed by June and January with $141.5 and $133.4 million, respectively.
A significant scam episode in 2024—though it did not make Immunefi’s highlight—was the ZKasino scam, in which the developers of the cryptocurrency gaming platform surprisingly routed $33 million in reimbursements to the staking system Lido. The 26-year-old suspect was identified through an on-chain inquiry carried out by prominent exchange Binance, and he was subsequently taken into custody by the Netherlands’ Fiscal Information and inquiry Service (FIOD). The suspect was found to be in possession of cryptocurrency, a luxury car, and real estate valued at over 11.4 million euros by the FIOD.
Disclaimer : This article was created for informational purposes only and should not be taken as investment advice. An asset’s past performance does not predict its future returns. Before making an investment, please conduct your own research, as digital assets like cryptocurrencies are highly risky and volatile financial instruments.
