The cryptocurrency industry experienced a significant decrease in losses from hacking and scams in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the previous year, according to a research report released by blockchain security firm Immunefi on March 28th.
The report revealed that the total amount lost to hacking and fraudulent activities in Q1 of 2024 was approximately $336.3 million, a significant decrease from the $437.5 million lost in the same quarter of 2023.
The report identified a total of 46 hacking incidents and 15 cases of fraud. Notably, all of the exploits identified by Immunefi in Q1 were targeted at decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, which continue to be a major target for hackers, compared to zero attacks on centralized finance platforms.
Two projects accounted for the majority of the losses, totaling $144.5 million, which represents 43% of the overall amount. The largest attack, amounting to $81.7 million, targeted the cross-chain bridge protocol Orbit Bridge on New Year’s Eve. The month of January saw the highest losses in Q1, totaling $133 million.
Mitchell Amador, the CEO of Immunefi, emphasized the vulnerability of DeFi platforms to private key breaches, underscoring the urgent need for enhanced security measures across code and protocol infrastructure.
In another notable attack, a $62 million exploit was carried out on the Blast-based nonfungible token game Munchables. However, the funds were recovered within 24 hours as the hacker surrendered the private keys to the wallet containing Munchables’ assets.
Overall, $73.9 million (22%) of the stolen funds from seven exploits in Q1 were successfully retrieved. The number of attacks decreased by 17.6% from 74 in Q1 2023 to 61 in 2024.
Hacks accounted for 95.6% ($321.6 million) of the losses across the 46 incidents, while fraud, scams, and rug pulls accounted for 4.4% ($14.7 million) in 15 incidents. Ethereum was the most targeted blockchain, followed by the BNB Chain, with both networks accounting for 73% of the total losses combined.
Ethereum experienced the highest number of attacks, with 33 incidents, representing 51% of the losses. The BNB Chain was targeted in 12 attacks, accounting for 22% of the exploited funds. Other incidents were identified on Arbitrum, Solana, Optimism, Bitcoin, Blast, Polygon, Conflux Network, and Base.
In related news, a team of white hat hackers called “SEAL 911” has been formed to combat crypto hacks in real-time, according to a magazine article.