Losses from crypto hacks and scams declined by 40% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2024, falling to just $413 million, according to a Sept. 26 report from blockchain security platform Immunefi. In the previous year, third-quarter losses were $685 million. Quarterly losses also declined by approximately 28% when compared to the second quarter of the current year. Despite the good news, Q3 did witness some spectacular crypto hacks and exploits. According to the report, the largest hack of the quarter was against the WazirX crypto exchange, which resulted in a loss of $235 million, while the second largest was the $52 million BingX hack. Together, these hacks accounted for more than 69% of the total losses for the quarter. Losses from rug pulls and other types of fraud represented a very small portion of the quarterly total. Only $3 million was lost across three incidents, amounting to 0.8%. Overall, losses from scams were down 86.4% compared to the same quarter in the previous year. Exploits in decentralized finance (DeFi) were also down significantly. $103 million was lost in DeFi across 31 incidents, a 79.2% decrease from the $500 million of losses suffered in Q3 2023. Despite the decline in losses for most sectors, the potential for massive losses at centralized exchanges continues to plague the crypto space.
OODA has been compiling a comprehensive Web3 incident database from the start of the cryptocurrency age based on our research to categorize what compromises are taking place as well as document the root causes that plague Cryptos, DeFi, NFTs, and Web3 in general. Tracking root causes provides comprehensive insights into how innovators can create robust cyber risk management approaches and reduce the potential for consequential attacks. You can access the OODA comprehensive Crypto Incident tracker here.
