Crypto Hack Losses in H1 2025 Exceed 2024’s Total 🚨💸

In the first half of 2025, over $2.47 billion in cryptocurrency was lost through hacks, scams, and exploits, already surpassing the total for 2024. Two major incidents—the ByBit breach and Cetus Protocol attack—accounted for $1.78 billion (72%) of these losses.

Key Incidents 🔍

ByBit (February 2025): Hackers, suspected to be the Lazarus group (North Korea), stole $1.4 billion. This remains the largest crypto theft to date.

Cetus Protocol (May 2025): Attackers stole $225 million, but Sui validators froze and returned $162 million.

Without these high-impact events, losses for H1 2025 would have been $690 million, indicating the broader trend may not be as severe as the raw figures suggest.

The Big Picture 📊

344 incidents were recorded in H1 2025, with an average loss of $7.18 million per incident—far higher than 2024’s $3.1 million.

Net losses (excluding frozen funds) in H1 2025 stand at $2.29 billion, already surpassing the $1.98 billion lost in all of 2024.

Attack Vectors 🛡️

Wallet Compromise: Accounted for $1.7 billion across 34 incidents in H1 2025. ByBit was one of the major targets. 👜💰

Phishing: Resurged in Q2 2025, causing $395 million in losses from 52 incidents, making it the costliest attack vector of the quarter.

Trends in Q2 2025 📅

Ethereum had the highest number of incidents (60) but lower losses ($37.2 million) in Q2.

Bitcoin led in Q2 losses with $373.6 million across 9 incidents.

Takeaways for the Industry 💡

Despite alarming figures, CertiK co-founder Ronghui Gu highlights that the majority of losses were concentrated in a few major incidents. This reinforces the need for a multi-layered security approach—including code audits, real-time monitoring, and incident response plans—to prevent future breaches.

The surge in crypto thefts underlines the critical importance of bolstering security in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. 🔐💥

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