Crypto Costs Surpassed$ 3 Billion in 2024: Peckshield

The crypto industry faced$ 3 billion in losses due to hacks and scams in 2024, marking a 15 % increase from$ 2.61 billion in 2023, according to blockchain security firm Peckshield.

Hacks accounted for$ 2.15 billion —or over 70 % —of total losses, a 42.38 % increase from$ 1.51 billion in 2023, while scams contributed$ 834.5 million, as per the security firm’s annual report.

In 2024, it was more difficult to recover stolen money. Approximately$ 488.5 million worth of stolen crypto assets were recovered, representing a 27.62 % decline from the$ 674.9 million recovered in 2023.

Although recovering nearly half a billion dollars is a tempting action, the sheer volume of stolen money demonstrated the urgent need for better safety practices across the sector.

PeckShield did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.

DeFi Under Fire

Decentralized finance ( DeFi ) protocols remained the most vulnerable, as their inherent weaknesses continued to attract cyber criminals.

Peckshield identified May as the most devastating month, with losses peaking at$ 662.2 million. July and August also recorded significant task, with costs exceeding$ 280 million each.

December, however, saw a notable decline, with losses dropping to$ 46.5 million —the lowest monthly total of the year.

Among the largest robberies of the year was Asian trade DMM Bitcoin’s$ 305 million steal, followed by a$ 290 million violation of PlayDapp and a$ 238 million Bitcoin fraud.

A Genesis bank was the target of a social executive attack by posing as Facebook support in the Bitcoin scam. The intruders stole 4, 064 BTC, according to onchain detective ZachXBT.

Indian crypto exchange WazirX and Gala Games also suffered substantial losses, with$ 230 million and$ 212 million stolen, respectively.

Phishing on the Rise

The growing threat of phishing scams, which CertiK identified as the most significant safety issue of 2024, was raised last week by bitcoin surveillance company CertiK.

These scams, which trick victims into sharing sensitive information such as private keys, caused over$ 1 billion in losses across 296 incidents, Certik noted in its annual Web3 security report.

The company reported a lost per phishing scam that was higher than the average loss for most other harm vectors. In 2024, at least three phishing attacks cost at least$ 100 million in damages.

However, there’s been some company information in the crypto surveillance business. Blockchain analytics agency Chainalysis lately acquired Hexagate, a Web3 security service.