Slomist Report Finds Hackers Stole $30 Billion In Crypto Since 2012

Due to the anonymity provided by cryptocurrencies, the crypto industry is known to be a target of hackers and other malicious players. This has led many to wonder just how much digital currency has been stolen from under the industry’s nose over the past few years.

Now, the latest report from blockchain security firm Slowmist appears to have an answer. As per recently released reportsHackers and scammers have made a whopping $30 billion in cryptocurrencies since 2012.

report details

The Slomist team analyzed 1,101 hacking incidents to determine how much crypto has been stolen so far and how they were stolen. Their findings show that hackers and scammers employ a variety of methods, on top of which are contract vulnerability attacks, rug pulling, flash loan attacks, scams, leaking private keys, and gaining access to people’s crypto accounts and wallets. To do the good old phishing attack. ,

The most lucrative year for malicious players came in 2021 during the extended crypto hype, with over $9.7 billion stolen in 236 attacks.

In total, the amount stolen in the last decade was a little over $30 billion. And considering that the total market cap of all cryptocurrencies is now $1.14 trillion, the amount stolen is more than 2.5% of the total market cap.

Over $30 billion stolen in 10 years | Source: SlowMist

Exchanges and the Ethereum ecosystem were hit the most

Exchanges have always been a prime target for hackers looking to steal crypto due to their large holdings, and the Slomist report reflects this.

Overall, more than 118 attacks were carried out on exchanges, resulting in losses of over $10.9 billion. The largest of these losses can be traced back to the 2018 Japanese exchange Coincheck hack, which lost $534 million, and the 2014 Mt.Gov hack, which resulted in over $473 million in losses.

Total market cap chart sitting at $1.139 trillion | Source: Crypto Total Market Cap on TradingView.com

In terms of attacks on the blockchain ecosystem, Ethereum topped the list with 217 attacks and over $3.1 billion stolen. This should come as no surprise, given that Ethereum is home to most Web3 projects.

The BSC and EOS ecosystems followed closely behind with 162 and 119 attacks, respectively. Additionally, NFT attacks caused losses of over $200 million, while bridge attacks caused losses of $2 billion.

What’s next for the crypto industry?

The staggering statistics in Slomist’s report are a reminder that crypto, despite all its promise, also has a dark side. However, the attacks seem to be slowing down as several projects have begun to improve their security. With over a trillion dollars at stake, reducing theft must be a collaborative effort across the entire crypto landscape.

According to the latest report from blockchain security firm Beosin, losses from Web3 scams and hacks will drop dramatically in the first half of 2023. Data from the Slomist report also shows that the total amount of money lost by blockchain hackers has been declining since 2021.

Featured image from ETF Trends, chart from Tradingview.com