Crypto Crime Hits $2.47 Billion in H1 2025, With Wallet Hacks on the Rise

The crypto industry has already lost more money in the first half of 2025 than it did in the entire year of 2024. 

In just six months, more than $2.47 billion was stolen, with one attack capturing the headlines: North Korea hackers ransacking ByBit for a record-breaking $1.5 billion. 

It is the most significant known theft in the history of crypto, and it underscores how high the stakes have become.

And while these crypto service hacks often make headlines in the news, a stealthier and potentially more damaging trend is unfolding. 

Personal crypto wallets, the very place where you likely are storing your digital assets right now, are under fire more than ever before. 

Already in 2025, wallet compromises account for over 23% of all stolen funds. This is a record high, and it’s a clear signal of where crypto crime is headed next.

Personal Wallets: The New Frontier for Crypto Crime

Up until recently, crypto exchanges and service providers have been low-hanging fruit for hackers. They hold billions in customer assets, and many of them have vulnerabilities and exploits that hackers could target. 

This is especially true for small- to medium-sized exchanges. But these defenses have been tightening up.

Compliance checks are improving, thanks to better monitoring, and infrastructure is becoming hardened, making it more difficult for hackers to drain exchanges undetected.

So what do they do? They turn their focus on you.

Your crypto wallet is one of the most empowering tools in the entire crypto ecosystem, providing you with direct access to your assets without needing to trust a third party. 

You hold the keys. You decide how to spend, send, or store your coins. It is the purest form of financial autonomy.

However, with that autonomy comes considerable responsibility. Unlike an exchange account, your wallet is being protected by a security team working around the clock to keep its systems safe. 

It’s just you, your keys, and your devices. And while that autonomy is one of the main draws of crypto, it also makes personal wallets a tempting target for attackers.

At the same time, crypto prices have been rising steadily over the past year or two, making personal wallets an even more lucrative target. 

And with new tools at the fingertips of these scammers (such as easy-to-deploy AI-powered attacks), it has never been easier for bad actors to launch sophisticated attacks on everyday users.

Breaking Down the Stolen Assets

Taking a closer look at the data reflects three key trends:

• Bitcoin still leads in value stolen. Although harder to exploit at scale, Bitcoin theft from personal wallets often results in higher dollar losses per event. Hackers appear to be targeting high-value accounts deliberately.
• Altchain holders are being targeted more often. While Bitcoin holders are suffering larger losses, the total number of victims is increasing in ecosystems for chains like Solana. These ecosystems are new, evolving quickly, and in some cases, less battle-tested against scams. Many of these victims are trading in newer ecosystems where memecoins dominate.
• Losses are compounding as prices rise. If the value of native assets, like Bitcoin, continues to increase, the dollar amount stolen from personal wallets will rise accordingly. For hackers, the math is simple. One wallet hacked today may be worth 2x in a bull market.

What This Means For You

The takeaway is not just that crypto crime is on the rise. Anyone who has been in the space long enough will be quick to tell you that scams and hacks have always been the most significant threat when interacting with the Web3 world. It’s just now that it seems the battlefield is changing. Your personal wallet is now firmly in the crosshairs.

This doesn’t mean it’s time to panic, sell your crypto, or even move your funds to an exchange. But it does mean that many of you need to take protection seriously. Your wallet is like the front door to your house. You wouldn’t leave it unlocked with valuables sitting in plain sight, so don’t treat your digital assets any differently. 

It’s time to harden your defenses by using hardware wallets and adding as many layers of protection as possible to your assets. Use strong passwords, enable two-factor authentication (2FA) where possible, and ensure your recovery phrases are secure and not stored online. 

Be skeptical of unsolicited DMs, emails, or prompts, even when they appear to be legitimate. If something feels off, it probably is.

Final Word

As crypto grows, it will inevitably attract more attackers. That’s just the nature of the game when real money is at stake. But 2025 is already bringing about a shit, with personal wallets becoming the most sought-after targets. 

The volume of theft is increasing, the attack techniques are improving, and the stakes are the highest they’ve ever been.

If you own crypto, protecting your wallet is no longer an option. It’s the line between being another statistic in a $2.47 billion headline, or keeping what’s yours exactly where it belongs.