Due to hacks, the cryptocurrency market lost a total of more than $2.3 billion, with centralized platforms (CeFi) suffering more significant losses compared to DeFi, blockchain-based games, metaverses and crypto wallets. This year, DeFi losses decreased by 40% compared to 2023, Hacken said.
Centralized exchanges lost $339 million in 2023, and in 2024 their losses increased to $694 million. The bulk of hacker attacks on the crypto market occurred in the first half of the year, Hacken experts noted.
In May, as a result of a hacker attack, the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin lost 4502.9 bitcoins worth $305 million. The platform’s private keys were compromised. In July, attackers attacked the Indian crypto exchange WazirX and withdrew assets worth $230 million from its hot wallet. The hackers managed to gain access to four of the six signatures required to certify transactions.
DeFi projects have proven to be more resistant to hacker attacks thanks to multi-party computing (MPC) protocols, zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) and increased bridge security, Hacken explained. With MPC, multiple parties can jointly manage private keys without having to reveal them, and ZKP allows transactions on the blockchain to be verified without exposing sensitive data.
However, attackers still managed to successfully attack several DeFi platforms. At the very beginning of the year, the Radiant Capital credit protocol was subject to a major attack – 1,900 ETH worth $4.5 million was stolen from it. In January, hackers gained access to the decentralized cross-chain bridge Orbit Bridge, were able to bypass security checks and authorize malicious transactions, which helped steal crypto assets for $81 million.
Source: Bits
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