Chainalysis counts $2.2 billion of stolen funds in 2024

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Chainalysis counts $2.2 billion of stolen funds in 2024

Also for 2024, Chainalysis has released its report on Crypto Hacks of the year, with 2.2 billion dollars of funds that have been stolen. This amount is 21.07% more compared to 2023, with individual hacking episodes also increasing from 282 in 2023 to 303 in 2024.

Crypto Hack and the increase of +21.07% in stolen funds in 2024 for a total of 2.2 billion dollars

Chainalysis, blockchain analysis company, has published its report dedicated to crypto hacks 2024, identifying that a total of 2.2 billion dollars in funds have been stolen.

This amount represents the +21.07% compared to the previous year, with also the numbers of individual hacking episodes that have increased from 282 in 2023 to 303 in 2024.

Thus, 2024 becomes the fifth year, along with 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, in which the crypto hack manages to steal over a billion dollars.

The blockchain analysis company states that this data represents the dark side of the increase in cryptocurrency adoption, as the amounts that can be stolen also increase.

During 2024, the first quarter saw the crypto market targeted by hacker attacks in the DeFi sector. In contrast, in the second and third quarter of 2024, the focus shifted to centralized services.

Chainalysis identifies the most significant crypto hacks of the year in DMM Bitcoin (May 2024; 305 million dollars) and WazirX (July 2024; 234.9 million dollars).

Crypto Hack: the target market for 2024 is centralized services

As anticipated, in the second half of 2024, the target market of crypto hacks shifted to centralized services.

Unlike DeFi, where the main issue was the vulnerability of the protocols, in centralized services, there is talk of the growing importance of the security of mechanisms, such as private keys.

In fact, centralized crypto platforms must primarily ensure the security of private keys, as they control access to users resources.

Not by chance, hackers who manage to compromise private keys can then proceed to launder the stolen funds through DEX or mining services or mixing services to obscure the transaction trail and complicate traceability.

In any case, in 2024, attacks on centralized platforms have increased, representing 43.8% of the total stolen funds. The main perpetrators of this type of crypto hack are 61% North Koreans, who managed to steal 1.34 billion dollars over the course of the year.

In this regard, Eric Jardine, Cybercrimes Research Lead at Chainalysis, commented as follows:

Chainalysis and the updates during the year

At the beginning of September, Chainalysis had published the second update of its Crypto Crime 2024 where it also analyzed some scam techniques.

Among other things, it has emerged that romantic scams have increased 85 times since 2020.

Regarding the Pig Butchering, the scam involves the wrongdoers making their victims “fatten up” to extract the maximum possible value.

It is a type of romantic scam that involves the construction of a relationship with the victim through text messages or dating apps, until pushing them to send money to a fake investment opportunity.

The scheme of Pig Butchering was the most used among romantic scams in 2024, which in total accounted for 43% of the most used techniques in crypto crime up to the middle of the year just ended.