Over the course of the last 13 years, the cryptocurrency industry has faced a total of 785 reported hacks and exploits. A staggering $19 billion worth of digital assets has been stolen since the first known crypto hack was reported on June 19, 2011, as per a report from Crystal Intelligence shared with Cointelegraph.
The most significant case of a single crypto theft remains the 2019 Plus Token fraud, where attackers managed to steal $2.9 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). However, in February 2024, the PlayDapp security breach took the lead in the past two years with a $290 million theft, marking it as the largest single crypto heist.
Similarly, the JPEX investment scam in Hong Kong stands out as the largest single crypto fraud scheme during this period, resulting in a loss of $194.3 million in stolen crypto assets.
Despite efforts to enhance monitoring and reporting mechanisms, crypto hacks and scams continue to pose a significant obstacle to mainstream trust and adoption. In fact, the first quarter of 2024 saw a 42% increase in stolen funds, totaling $542.7 million compared to the same period in 2023.
Although 2023 saw the highest number of crypto-related hacks, 2022 is remembered as the “deadliest year by value,” according to Crystal Intelligence. In 2022, a total of 286 exploits led to over $2.3 billion worth of digital assets being stolen, while the number of incidents was lower than in 2023, with a total of 199 hacks resulting in $4.2 billion worth of stolen assets.
The report highlights the growing trend of illegal activity on the blockchain in 2023 and 2024, despite efforts to improve monitoring and reporting mechanisms. Security breaches in 2023 resulted in over $1 billion worth of digital assets being stolen, surpassing the amount lost to decentralized finance (DeFi) hacks, which amounted to $835 million. Although there were more DeFi hacks reported, they were smaller in size compared to security breaches.
In the past two years, the Euler Finance hack emerged as the largest single DeFi hack, resulting in $197 million worth of stolen Ether tokens. The top 10 DeFi hacks in 2023 and 2024 combined accounted for nearly $579 million in stolen assets, showcasing the ongoing challenges faced by the cryptocurrency industry.