According to a study report released on February 29 by blockchain security company Immunefi, over $200.4 million in cryptocurrency has been lost to hacks and rug pulls in 2024 year-to-date (YTD), spanning 32 separate events.
Comparing the over $200 million loss YTD to January and February 2023, when digital assets valued at $173 million were taken, shows a 15.4% increase.
In 12 distinct hacking and fraud occurrences in February 2024, cryptocurrency valued at approximately $67 million was taken. This is a reduction of about 50% from the $133 million worth of cryptocurrency that was reported stolen in January 2024.
The majority of this year’s stolen money, $32.3 million, was lost in a cyberattack on the cryptocurrency gaming platform PlayDapp. The second-biggest theft, worth $26.1 million, happened to the decentralized cryptocurrency exchange FixedFloat. While centralized finance (CeFi) protocols saw no significant attacks in February, decentralized finance (DeFi) was the primary target of exploitation.
In February, there were ten separate hacking instances that totaled over $65 million, or 97.54% of the stolen cash. In contrast, there were two fraud cases that totaled $1.65 million, or 2.46% of the stolen value.
In February, Ethereum emerged as the most targeted network by hackers, trailed by the Bitcoin network and Binance’s BNB Chain. Over 85% of Ethereum’s value loss this year may be attributed to the 12 separate attacks that the platform experienced. Each of Bitcoin and BNB experienced one event.
In the cryptocurrency space, hacks and exploits are becoming a bigger worry, particularly for DeFi apps. A Dec. 28 study by Immmunefi states that a total of $1.8 billion was lost in 2023 to cryptocurrency hackers and scammers, with 17% of that amount being linked to the North Korean Lazarus Group.
The largest attack of the year was on the peer-to-peer trading platform Mixin Network, which lost over $200 million. The next biggest attack was on the Euler Finance landing platform, which lost $197 million. Third place went to the $126 million Multichain cross-chain bridge protocol hack.