More than $320 million was lost to bad actors within the crypto space in the first quarter of the year as per data compiled by smart contract security platform CertiK. The figure represented a significant decline from that in the preceding quarter (Q4 2022) and from a similar period in the previous year. The blockchain security firm attributed this decrease to distressing incidents that rocked the industry across the three months. Notable among them, an upheaval in the stablecoin markets and a banking crisis extending into the digital assets space. These and other unfortunate incidents prompted investors to move their funds to the sidelines while also putting off potential entrants and inflows as a result. Barely halfway into Q2, more exploit incidents have been reported with attributable losses headed to equal the figure reported in Q1. In March, about $211 million was stolen in crypto, dominated by a $197 million hack on Euler Finance. The amount siphoned last month was slightly less than half of this, with blockchain security firm Certified Kernel Tech (CertiK) estimating a figure of $103.7 million in losses to exploits, hacks, and scams. April and March numbers brought the total amount stolen by malicious actors in the first four months to $429.7 million year-to-date. Another major incident in April was the Ethereum Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) bot sandwich attack which resulted in a $25.4 million loss. Bitrue exchange also reportedly had $23 million in Ether and other currencies drained from one of its hot wallets.
Full analysis : On-chain Data Suggests Crypto Hacks and DeFi Exploits are on Course to Match Q1 Figures.
If you want to get a better picture of the security threats in the Web3 arena, you can check out our Crypto Incident Tracker. 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.
