Crypto heists near $1.4b in first half of 2024: TRM Labs

Cybercrime in the crypto sector has soared in the first half of 2024, with hackers stealing nearly $1.38 billion, nearly doubling last year’s figures.

Cybercriminals have pilfered a staggering $1.38 billion from crypto investors in the first half of 2024, nearly doubling the $657 million stolen during the same period in 2023, according to data compiled by blockchain forensic firm TRM Labs.

Consistent with 2023 trends, a handful of major breaches have dominated this year’s thefts, with the top five incidents accounting for 70% of the total haul, analysts say. The most significant attack to date occurred in May when DMM Bitcoin, a Japanese crypto exchange, suffered a hacker attack, losing over 4,500 BTC valued at over $300 million at the time.

While the nature of the hack remains unclear, TRM Labs attributes “stolen private keys or address poisoning” to potential attack vectors. “Private key and seed phrase compromises remain a top attack vector in 2024, alongside smart contract exploits and flash loan attacks,” the analysts say.

The New York-headquartered firm notes that the first six months of 2024 have seen higher theft volumes each month than the corresponding months in 2023, “with the median hack 150% larger.” Despite this surge, the analysts say thefts from hacks and exploits are a “third below the same period in 2022, which remains a record year.”

In the meantime, data from Scam Sniffer indicates that phishing scammers made over $300 million across EVM chains by targeting around 260,000 victims, marking a 6.44% increase compared to 2023. According to researchers, around $58 million worth of crypto was drained from 20 victims alone, with one victim losing $11 million, becoming the second-largest theft victim in crypto history.