Hackers stole nearly $2 bn in cryptocurrencies in 2023

New Delhi, Dec 27 (IANS) Hackers stole around $2 billion in cryptocurrencies in 2023, a substantial decrease from an all-time record of around $3.8 billion in 2022.

Among the major hacks this year was Hong Kong-based crypto company Mixin that saw $200 million being stolen in a data breach that occurred in September.

In March, Cyber-criminals stole about $197 million from crypto lending platform Euler Finance.

According to De.FI, the Web3 security firm that runs the REKT database, the $2 billion in crypto hacking this year, “though dispersed across various incidents, underscores the persistent vulnerabilities and challenges within the DeFi ecosystem”.

“2023 stood as a testament to both the ongoing vulnerabilities and the strides made in addressing them, even as interest in the space was relatively muted by the ongoing bear market in the first half of the year,” De.Fi wrote in its report shared with TechCrunch.

In December, leading crypto exchange HTX witnessed a net outflow of $258 million after a $30 million hack in November.

Atomic Wallet, a mobile and desktop crypto wallet allowing users to store various cryptocurrencies, witnessed a security breach in June and lost over $35 million in crypto assets.

Over $7 billion in cryptocurrency has been illicitly laundered through cross-chain crime, with North Korea's Lazarus Group being linked to the theft of around $900 million between July 2022 and July of this year.

According to the blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, cross-chain services are fast becoming the preferred money laundering method for a range of cybercrimes, including scams and crypto thefts.

Cross-chain crime refers to the swapping of crypto assets between different tokens or blockchains -- often in rapid succession and with no legitimate business purpose -- to obfuscate their criminal origin.

Last year, Blockchain monitoring firm Chainalysis reported cryptocurrency hackers stole $3.8 billion, making it the worst year on record for crypto investors, up from $3.3 billion in 2021.