Hackers have stolen $2.98B via exploits in the crypto industry so far

The cryptocurrency space has lost nearly $2.98 billion to DeFi hacks this year — almost double the $1.55 billion lost in 2021, according to a recent report by blockchain security firm PeckShield.

#PeckShieldAlert ~44 exploits (53 protocols affected) grabbed ~$760.2M in Oct. 2022, and ~$100M already returned the exploited protocols (Total loss: $657.2M)
As of October 2022, the stolen funds (~$3B) in 2022 “doubled” last year’s loss pic.twitter.com/mKZAjVk7UU

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) October 31, 2022

Roughly $760 million was stolen in October through 44 hacks across 53 protocols — making it the worst month for crypto hacks in 2022. Excluding October, hackers stole approximately $428 million during the third quarter.

March was the second worst month of the year, followed by April in terms of money lost in hacks. In total, protocols suffered a combined loss of $1.18 billion due to hacks over these two months.

Worst hacks of 2022

According to the Peckshield report, the worst breach in October was the BNB Chain exploit that led to hackers stealing $590 million from the network. However, the hacker only made off with roughly $100 million as BNB Chain was frozen immediately after the news broke — preventing the attacker from moving most assets off-chain.

Another DeFi exploit that made headlines was the MNGO protocol breach, in which a hacker took a huge position in MNGO-PERP and counter-traded themselves. The perpetrator drained the entirety of the protocol’s liquidity, which amounted to approximately $100 million worth of assets. 

However, the most significant exploit of the year was the attack on Ronin Bridge, which accounted for $625 million of the $710 million hackers stole in March. In terms of funds, the Wormhole bridge exploit was the second biggest attack, where a hacker siphoned over $320 million in wrapped ETH from the Wormhole protocol.

Most of the year’s major attacks have targeted DeFi protocols, which is of concern to crypto enthusiasts, according to a report from the Barrons.

For most of 2019, hackers targeted Centralized exchanges. However, over the past 22 months, hackers have stolen roughly $6.7 billion by exploiting DeFi platforms.