New Delhi, Dec 23
Crypto criminals have stolen over $1.71 billion worth of cryptos this year, pushing total thefts to shocking levels at $12.7 billion across more than 1,000 heists to date, data showed on Monday.
The high value and anonymity of cryptocurrencies make them a magnet for criminals, helping the total value of criminal crypto transactions to hit shocking highs, according to the report by CryptoPresales.com.
In five of the past 10 years, including 2024, hackers have stolen over $1 billion annually, proving the ongoing struggle for law enforcement and regulators to control these crimes, as per Comparitech data.
Over the past decade, the total number of crypto heists skyrocketed 15 times, going from only 12 hacks reported in 2014 to 176 this year.
The difference is even bigger compared to 283 heists reported in 2023, the highest number the crypto space has ever seen.
Although the annual number of crypto heists significantly dropped, the 10-year total is still shocking. Since 2014, criminals performed 1,008 crypto heists, costing the industry over $12.7 billion, said the report.
As per data, most of these losses, or over 75 per cent, occurred in the last four years, with 2022 and 2023 holding the record.
Statistics also showed that the most common crypto crimes include exploits, hacks, and flash loan attacks, which account for over 65 per cent of all reported heists.
“So far, there have been 395 exploits, 271 hacks targeting systems or networks, and 220 flash loan attacks, which exploit bugs in smart contracts or manipulate crypto prices,” the report mentioned.
Meanwhile, South Korea and the United States are conducting joint research to strengthen protection against cryptocurrency heist attempts amid growing concerns of such attacks by North Korea-linked hackers.
The move comes as the price of Bitcoin recently surged to $100,000 after the U.S. presidential election last month, raising concerns of increased attempts by hackers to steal virtual assets.
North Korea is known as a major player in cryptocurrency heists, with hackers linked to the country estimated to have stolen $1.34 billion worth of cryptocurrency across 47 incidents this year, according to Chainalysis, a leading blockchain analysis firm.