The cryptocurrency industry experienced a significant decrease in losses from hacking and scams during the first quarter of 2024 compared to the previous year, according to a research report by blockchain security firm Immunefi. The report revealed that the total amount lost to hacking and fraud incidents in Q1 2024 was approximately $336.3 million, down from $437.5 million in the same quarter of 2023. The report identified 46 hacking incidents and 15 cases of fraudulent activities.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, with nearly $100 billion locked in Web3 protocols, remained the primary target for hackers in Q1, accounting for all of the identified exploits. In contrast, centralized finance platforms had zero reported exploits. Two projects accounted for the majority of the losses, totaling $144.5 million, which represented 43% of the overall amount. The largest attack, amounting to $81.7 million, targeted the cross-chain bridge protocol Orbit Bridge on New Year’s Eve. The month of January saw the highest losses in Q1, totaling $133 million.
Immunefi CEO, Mitchell Amador, emphasized the vulnerability of DeFi platforms to private key breaches and stressed the urgent need for enhanced security measures across code and protocol infrastructure.
The second-largest attack involved a $62 million exploit on the nonfungible token game Munchables, which was built on the Blast platform. However, the funds were recovered within 24 hours as the hacker surrendered the private keys to the wallet containing Munchables’ assets. Overall, $73.9 million (22%) of the stolen funds from seven exploits in Q1 were retrieved. The number of attacks decreased by 17.6% from 74 in Q1 2023 to 61 in 2024.
Hacks accounted for 95.6% ($321.6 million) of the losses across 46 incidents, while fraud, scams, and rug pulls accounted for 4.4% ($14.7 million) in 15 incidents. Ethereum was the most targeted blockchain, followed by the BNB Chain, with both networks accounting for 73% of the total combined losses. Ethereum had the highest number of attacks, with 33 incidents, representing 51% of the losses, while the BNB Chain experienced 12 attacks, accounting for 22% of the exploited funds. Other incidents were identified on Arbitrum, Solana, Optimism, Bitcoin, Blast, Polygon, Conflux Network, and Base.
In an effort to combat crypto hacks in real-time, a team of white hats called the “SEAL 911” has been formed, as reported in the magazine.