Hackers were able to gain access to more than $320 million in the first quarter of 2023 alone, according to on-chain data consolidated by blockchain security firm CertiK in its quarterly report. The losses were significantly lower than in 2022’s first and fourth quarters, when hackers took around $1.3 billion and $950 million, respectively. According to CertiK, the low amount of losses may be linked to events happening off-chain that had an impact on the crypto industry as a whole, such as the issues with Silvergate Bank and the depegging of USD Coin at the height of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse. Out of the funds stolen within the quarter, over $31 million was lost to 90 exit scams, while more than $222 million was lost in 52 flash loan and oracle manipulation exploits. Regarding incidents and the amount lost per blockchain, CertiK highlighted that BNB Chain had 139 incidents, the greatest number for the quarter. Meanwhile, despite having fewer incidents, Ethereum had $221 million in losses, the most lost in Q1 2023. Despite being much lower than Q1 2022 and Q4 2022, the first quarter of 2023 was still met with hundreds of millions lost, with 60% coming from the recent Euler Finance hack. On March 13, the protocol was hacked through a flash loan exploit, leading to losses of over $195 million.
Full report : Here’s how much was lost to crypto hacks and exploits in Q1 2023.
While these are the largest cryptocurrency hacks that have happened in 1st quarter of 2023, OODA has been compiling a comprehensive Web3 incident database 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.
