Blockchain hackers stole almost half a billion in Q3 2022

Although the cryptocurrency market is in a deep decline, cybercriminals are still actively hacking blockchain technologies or launching scams. According to the data analyzed by the Atlas VPN team, blockchain hackers stole 478 million dollars worth of cryptocurrencies.

The Ethereum ecosystem suffered the biggest losses of $348 million over 11 hacks.

The data is based on the figures provided by Slowmist Hacked, which collects information on disclosed attacks against blockchain projects. Monetary losses were calculated based on the conversion rate of a particular cryptocurrency at the time of a hack or fraud event.

The Polkadot ecosystem takes second place on the list of most significant losses. The Polkadot crypto projects lost $52 million in just 2 hack incidents. The ecological project Acala caused an additional issuance of aUSD (Acala Dollar) due to an error in the chain, which allowed attackers to create crypto.

Next is the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) ecosystem, which was hacked 13 times and lost $28 million in crypto. Hackers attacked BSC-related crypto projects more than any other. The biggest loss was incurred in the Raccoon Network & Freedom Protocol project, which turned out to be a scam when fraudsters transferred 20 million BUSD to a personal address.

At the same time, the Solana ecosystem lost nearly $6 million worth of crypto in 3 hack incidents. Blockchain-related hacks caused $5.1 million in losses through 4 incidents. Cybercriminals once hacked crypto exchanges and got away with $4.3 million. The Fantom ecosystem also suffered a hack incident where hackers stole $1.7 million.

Meanwhile, non-fungible token (NFT) projects scammers made nearly $4 million in 7 events. Other crypto-related projects accumulated $28 million in crypto losses through 9 hacks.

Crypto hacks are slowing down

While cryptocurrencies live through the bear market, hackers are also less active. However, blockchain hacks and frauds are still a significant problem causing millions of losses to crypto projects and investors.

When comparing the third and second quarters of 2022, blockchain hacks fell by 46%, from 96 in Q2 to 52 incidents in Q3. Figures from Q3 2021, compared to the same quarter this year, also show a 32% decrease in blockchain incidents. If cryptocurrencies remain in the bear market, the number of hacks will likely be similar to Q3.

Nevertheless, if we take a look at the first three quarters of 2021 and 2022, this year, blockchain hacks have increased by 37%. They have gone up from 166 incidents last year to 227 in 2022. Over the previous two years, the 2nd quarter of 2022 was the most destructive month, when hackers carried out 96 hacks and scams.

Blockchain technology has been a good example of how security principles in financial transactions and information transfer are revolutionizing. Despite that, the technology remains susceptible to cybercriminals who exploit it to their advantage. Many crypto projects get hacked, or fraudsters set up scams to steal from investors.

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