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Hackers had stolen more than $1.38 billion worth of crypto by
June 24, 2024, compared with $657 million in the same period in
2023, TRM Labs said in a report.
The median theft was one-and-a-half times larger than the year
before, the report said.
"While we have not seen any fundamental changes in the security
of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, we have seen a significant
increase in the value of various tokens - from bitcoin to ETH
(ether) and Solana - compared to the same time last year," said
Ari Redbord, global head of policy at TRM Labs.
This means that cybercriminals are more motivated to attack
crypto services, and can steal more when they do, Redbord said.
Crypto prices have generally recovered from the lows hit in late
2022 in the aftermath of the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's
crypto exchange, FTX. Bitcoin hit an all-time high of $73,803.25
in March this year.
Among the largest crypto losses so far this year was the roughly
$308 million worth of bitcoin stolen from Japanese crypto
exchange DMM Bitcoin, in what the company called an "unauthorised
leak".
Cryptocurrency companies are frequent targets for hacks and
cyberattacks, although losses of this scale are rare.
Stolen cryptocurrency volumes in 2022 were around $900 million,
Redbord said, partly due to the more than $600 million stolen
from a blockchain network linked to the online game Axie
Infinity. The United States has linked North Korean hackers to
that theft.
The United Nations has accused North Korea of using cyber
attacks to help fund its nuclear and missile programs. North
Korea has previously denied allegations of hacking and other
cyberattacks.
(Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft; Editing by Tommy Reggiori
Wilkes and Kim Coghill)
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