Crypto Loot Worth $623M Recovered in 2023: Report

Blockchain security firm PeckShield has released an annual report that detailed the series of crypto hacks perpetrated in 2023 and the volume of stolen crypto for the year.

Stolen Crypto Incidence Drops in 2023

According to an X post from PeckShield, 2023 saw over 600 major crypto hacks that led to the loss of approximately $2.16 billion. 

Precisely, $1.51 billion was siphoned via crypto hacks (excluding Multichain unauthorized withdrawals) while the other $1.1 billion was as a result of scams. Of these huge losses, only about $674.9M was recovered, leaving the other stolen crypto missing till the time of this writing. 

In November 2023, there was a surge in crypto hacks and scams, causing a $290 million loss for five major projects. With how tumultuous the month was, the total crypto attacks in the year were not as bad as the ones from the previous year. 

#PeckShieldAlert 2023 saw 600+ major hacks in the crypto space, resulting in ~$2.61B in losses, with $674.9M recovered.
$1.51B lost to hacks (excluding #Multichain unauthorized withdrawals) & $1.1B to scams. This marks a 27.78% decrease from 2022. #DeFi protocols remained prime… pic.twitter.com/G7PIU3WyrX

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) January 29, 2024

Compared to the volume of crypto exploits that were recorded in 2022 (about 4 billion), the 2023 data marks a 27.78% decrease. The focus of the market shifted in 2023 as a result of the crypto winter, hence, accounting for the plunge in stolen crypto.

DeFi at the Forefront of Crypto Hacks

Noteworthy, the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ecosystem remains the landscape of interest for the perpetrators of these cyber thefts. Out of all exploits that have been conducted against the digital asset industry, DeFi attacks account for about 67% of it. 

The bad actors keep exploiting the numerous vulnerabilities found on the DeFi platforms. Last year, DeFi protocol KyberSwap was one of the platforms that was hacked. The unfortunate situation led to the loss of $46 million in stolen crypto assets. 

A few weeks before the KyberSwap hack, Justin Sun’s Poloniex exchange also suffered a terrible attack where the hackers made away with over $100 million worth of assets including BTC, ETH USDD, USDC, FLOKI, and other cryptocurrencies. The exploit which was done in 357 separate transactions was reported by PerkShieldAlert on X.

Ultimately, this underscores the need for robust regulations and security for digital assets platforms. The more difficult it is for these hackers to discover vulnerabilities in protocols owing to the tight security around them, the less likely to have numerous hacks leading to stolen crypto.