Cryptocurrency investors and platforms face a growing threat as the value of cryptocurrency hacks nearly doubled in the first seven months of 2024, reaching $1.6 billion, According to According to a new report from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.
Cryptocurrency Theft Will Rise Dramatically in 2024
While the monetary value of stolen funds has increased significantly, the actual number of breaches has increased slightly, rising from 145 incidents in the corresponding period of 2023 to 149 breaches so far this year.
Eric Jardine, senior cybercrime researcher at Chainalysis, attributed much of this increase in stolen value to Price increase Various crypto assets witnessed during the year 2024.
Instant Bitcoin Emergence Exchange Traded Funds ETFs in the US at the start of the year led to a huge surge in the value of Bitcoin, pushing it to a record high of nearly $74,000 by March.
Despite recent market volatility that has tempered some of these gains, Bitcoin still boasts a solid 38% increase in value this year. Notably, Bitcoin accounted for 40% of all cryptocurrency theft revenue in 2024, according to Chainalysis estimates.
The Asia-Pacific region, in particular, has been a hotbed of high-profile exploits in recent months. One example is a $301 million loss suffered by a Japanese company. dmm bitcoin Due to an “unauthorized leak” and drain of $235 million from the Indian platform WazirX, it has highlighted the weaknesses of centralized exchanges.
Central stock exchanges emerge as key targets
The report also highlighted North Korean-linked groups, which have been known for their alleged involvement in large-scale digital asset thefts, using increasingly sophisticated social engineering strategies to infiltrate Digital Assets US law enforcement authorities have previously linked North Korea to large-scale cryptocurrency theft.
The spike in crypto theft comes after a record $3.7 billion was stolen in 2022, followed by a drop to $1.7 billion in 2023 as decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms improve their security measures and token prices stabilize.
However, the latest data suggests that hackers are once again setting their sights on Central exchanges (CEXs), which often hold large amounts of cryptocurrency and may have weaker security protocols than their DeFi counterparts.
At the time of writing, the total cryptocurrency market cap stands at $2 trillion after falling to $1.6 trillion in early August. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, has now managed to reclaim the $59,000 level on Friday after falling to a weekly low of $56,100 on Thursday.
Ethereum (ETH), the market-leading altcoin, is up 1.3% over the past 24 hours and is currently trading just above its key support level at $2,600 after hitting a low of $2,500 on Thursday.
Featured image by DALL-E, chart by TradingView.com