Crypto Hacks and Exploits Peak Year-to-Date in July: Report

The amount of money lost through hacks and exploits in the cryptocurrency sector surged the highest year-to-date to USD $303 million in July. The security platform focusing on blockchain technology, Certik, released an update about the losses today (Monday).

According to the company, the blockchain bridging platform, Multichain, reported the highest losses, worth USD $125 million, from exploits. Multichain ceased operations in July, and its CEO Zhaojun was reportedly arrested by law enforcement agencies in China.

Losses from Exit Scams

The highest amount lost through attacks on flash loans was USD $3.2 million on Conic Finance, while the highest amount lost through exit scams was USD $1.9 million on Kannagi Finance. The total losses year-to-date from exploits, exit scams, and flash loans are USD $580 million, USD $123 million, and USD $255 million, respectively.

On top of that, the total losses year-to-date due to hacks and exploits have reached USD 961 million. The amount lost to exploits in July is USD $285 million, while that lost to flash loans and exit scams is USD $8.7 million and USD $8.6 million, respectively.

The latest data arrived when Curve Finance, a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, is counting losses worth millions of dollars from an exploit reported last weekend. The cryptocurrency exchange Huobi confirmed the incident, saying Curve Finance could have lost USD $52 million. The funds are believed to have been siphoned through a vulnerability in the DeFi platform's smart contract coding language, Vyper.

Hackers Steal over $300M in Q2

At the beginning of July, Finance Magnates reported that hackers stole USD $313 million in the second quarter of the year. The amount did not change much compared to USD $320 million lost during the first quarter. The money lost through exit scams alone doubled to USD $70 million.

Also referred to as a ‘rug pull’, an exit scam is a situation where an individual or a company creates a cryptocurrency project, promotes it until it achieves a certain monetary value, and then disappears, leaving investors with worthless tokens. Besides that, hacks and exploits involve a situation where hackers infiltrate a network and steal data or digital assets.