The cryptocurrency industry saw a notable decline in losses from scams, exploits, and hacks as 2024 ended.
In December, recorded losses dropped to $28.6 million, down from $63.8 million in November and $115.8 million in October, according to CertiK.
Notable incidents included a $2.1 million exploit on e DeFi platform GemPad, where attackers exploited a smart contract vulnerability, and a $1 million loss on FEG’s token bridge.
PeckShield reported $24.7 million in December hack-related losses, a 71% decrease from November.
The most significant event was the December 16-17 LastPass exploit, which drained $12.3 million from users’ wallets due to a breach from December 2022.
The Cyvers 2024 Web3 Security Report revealed $2.3 billion in stolen cryptocurrency across 165 incidents, a 40% increase from 2023 but 37% less than in 2022.
Immunefi’s report noted $1.49 billion in losses due to hacks and fraud, with hacks accounting for $1.47 billion (98.1%). Fraud represented $28 million (1.9%).
Two major incidents stood out: a $305 million private key breach at Japan’s DMM Bitcoin in May and a $235 million hack at India’s WazirX in July, together making up 36% of the total losses.
Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain were the most targeted blockchains.
