Also this year there are many thefts cryptoland. In August, about $45.8 million in cryptocurrency was stolen by hackers and scammers, according to cybersecurity firm CertiK in a new Aug. 31 report. That means the tally for 2023 is already close to $1 billion in stolen cryptocurrencies, according to the research agency.
$1 billion worth of crypto stolen in 2023
According to the report, $26 million was lost to so-called losses in August stop cheating$6.4 million lightning loan and $13.5 million exploits, Exploiting a vulnerability.
The total value for 2023 is officially $997 million in stolen assets, according to CertiK’s estimate. These are $596 million in exploits, $261 million in flash loans and $137 million in exit scams. However, we still have a few months ahead of us this year.
Summarizing all the incidents in August, we confirmed that about $45.8 million was lost through exploits, hacks, and fraud.
Exit scams totaled about $26 million
Short-term loans totaled approximately $6.4 million
The exploits totaled approximately $13.5 million
See below for more details 👇 pic.twitter.com/L2gsJYBJ3b
— CertiK Alert (@CertiKAlert) August 31, 2023
The biggest crypto thefts
The biggest incident of the past month was the Pepecoin fiasco (PEPE). Two malicious members of the Pepecoin team stole millions of dollars in assets from the project. Final damage was $13.2 million. The second most costly incident in August was the exacty protocol exploit. $7.3 million went up in smoke.
Although $45 million was stolen in August, that amount is nothing compared to the damage done in July. In July, a total of no less than $486 million was stolen. The multichain exploit in particular made a big contribution. This exploit caused $231 million in damage.
The crypto industry therefore remains a haven for scammers and hackers. It’s an eyesore on the industry, and the poor security practices of many projects are far from helping. In particular, projects in the field of decentralized finance (DeFi) are regularly affected by hacks.
It won’t be long before the total damage surpasses the painful $1 billion mark by 2023. However, this would not be a premiere. In 2022, a total of $3.7 billion was stolen by hackers and scammers. In 2021, that amount was $1.3 billion.