Crypto Security: August Records Lowest YTD Losses
Date: 2024-08-30 Author: Henry Casey Categories: CRYPTO PAYMENTS
August was a better month for crypto security. Compared to previous months, it saw the lowest losses this year, according to the latest report from the largest vulnerability and security platform Immunefi.
In August, hackers stole $15,082,000 from five specific incidents.
The bulk of the amount was lost in the hack of gaming-focused Ronin Network, which lost $12 million, and DeFi protocol Nexera, which recorded a loss of $1.5 million. The $15 million amount is the lowest loss since the beginning of the year (YTD), the Immunefi team said.
It is also a 94.5% decrease compared to the previous month. This is also a notable 38% decrease compared to August 2023, when losses were recorded at $24,581,220.
In total, the ecosystem lost a whopping $1,210,741,330 YTD across 154 incidents. Notably, over $358 million was stolen in May alone, making it the largest monthly loss since the start of the year.
The May losses follow the $274 million lost in July of this year.
January, March, and June are at similar levels, with losses ranging from $133.2 million to $141.5 million. While they don’t come close to August, February and April also saw lower amounts of funds stolen compared to other months this year, totaling around $70 million.
100% of DeFi Attacks
Centralized finance (CeFi) didn’t hold the top spot for long in terms of total funds lost.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) overtook it again in August. Moreover, 100% of the funds lost were due to attacks on DeFi. This means that DeFi alone suffered $15 million in losses across 5 incidents.
There were no CeFi-related incidents reported in August. At the same time, there were no fraud cases, only hacks. While hacks continued to be the leading cause of losses compared to fraud, 100% of all cryptocurrency losses and breaches in August were due to hacks.
This means that all $15 million in losses and 5 incidents were caused solely by hacks. Unsurprisingly, the most targeted networks in August were Ethereum and BNB Chain. Ethereum suffered 3 attacks, accounting for 60% of all losses. BNB Chain suffered 2 attacks, accounting for 40% of all losses.
