Over $3.7 Billion Lost in 303 Blockchain Security Attacks in 2022: SlowMist

2022 was indeed a challenging year for the crypto industry, marked by significant devaluations of major assets, liquidity issues for many firms, and an unfortunate number of bankruptcy filings. The industry also faced significant security threats as hackers stole billions of dollars from users and DeFi protocols.

ONE report by blockchain security firm SlowMist, titled “Blockchain Security and AML Analysis”, provided an overview of the security status of various sectors within the crypto industry, analyzing the flow of stolen funds in more than 300 hacks that occurred in 2022.

Hackers stole over $3.7 billion in 2022

According to the document, 303 blockchain-related security incidents occurred last year, resulting in losses of an estimated $3.7 billion (calculated at the market price at the time of exploitation).

The amount lost represents a 61% drop from the $9.795 billion loss in 2021, although SlowMist did not consider the value lost due to market volatility.

The report revealed that around 255 security incidents affected various ecosystems, including DeFi, cross-chain bridges and non-fungible tokens (NFT). In addition, there were ten security incidents involving crypto exchanges, 11 attacks on public chains, six exploitative wallets, and 21 other types.

The DeFi the ecosystem lost $2.075 billion to hackers, about 55% of the total losses for the year, while cross-chain bridges recorded $1.212 billion in stolen funds, about 32% of the entire amount during the year.

Per the paper, 56 security incidents were reported in the NFT space, resulting in losses totaling over $65.44 million.

“Many of these incidents were caused by phishing attacks, which accounted for approximately 39% (22 incidents), followed by Rug Pulls, which accounted for approximately 21% (12 incidents). The remaining 30% (17 incidents) were caused by contract vulnerabilities or other internal factors, the report said.

BNB Chain – The biggest hack victim of 2022

The report shows that BNB chain (formerly known as Binance Smart Chain – BSC) was the biggest victim of blockchain security incidents last year. The blockchain experienced 79 attacks, resulting in losses of up to $785 million.

The survey found that blockchain mixers became popular last year and were the favorite tool for hackers to launder their ill-gotten gains. According to the report, 1,233,129 ETH (about $2.83 billion) was deposited into the now-sanctioned cryptomixer Tornado Cashwhile 40,065 BTC were deposited to ChipMixer in 2022.

The report also revealed that some industry projects have begun to implement effective blockchain anti-money laundering measures to prevent attackers from profiting from their crimes.

Stablecoin issuers Tether and Circle blocked 376 addresses in 2022 to prevent wallet funds from being moved out by attackers.

While crypto theft exceeded $3.7 billion in 2022, another report revealed that illegal crypto transactions reached a record $20 billion in the same period.