Anika Begay
Cryptocurrency investors and platforms are facing a growing threat as the value of cryptocurrency cyberattacks nearly doubled in the first seven months of 2024, reaching a staggering $1.6 billion. second to a new report from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.
Cryptocurrency Theft Skyrockets in 2024
While the monetary value of stolen funds has skyrocketed, the actual number of cyberattacks has seen a marginal increase, from 145 incidents in the corresponding period of 2023 to 149 cyberattacks since the beginning of the year.
Eric Jardine, head of cybercrime research at Chainalysis, attributed a substantial portion of this spike in stolen value to the significant price appreciation experimented by various cryptocurrencies during 2024.
The debut of Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States earlier this year sparked a surge in the value of Bitcoin, pushing it to an all-time high of nearly $74,000 in March.
Despite recent market fluctuations that have dampened some of these gains, Bitcoin still boasts a solid 38% increase in value this year. Notably, Bitcoin has accounted for 40% of total cryptocurrency theft proceeds in 2024, as estimated by Chainalysis.
In particular, the Asia-Pacific region has been a hot spot for high-profile exploits in recent months. Cases such as the $301 million loss suffered by the Japanese operator DMM Bitcoin due to an “unauthorized leak” and the $235 million stolen from India’s WazirX have highlighted vulnerabilities in centralized exchanges.
CEXs emerge as key targets
The report also shed light on North Korea-linked groups, known for their alleged involvement in major digital asset thefts, which are using increasingly sophisticated social engineering strategies to breach digital resource platforms. U.S. law enforcement authorities have previously linked North Korea to large-scale cryptocurrency thefts.
The surge in cryptocurrency thefts follows a record $3.7 billion stolen in 2022, which was followed by a decline to $1.7 billion in 2023, as decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms improved their security measures and token prices stabilized.
However, the latest data suggests that hackers are once again targeting centralized exchanges (CEX), which often hold large amounts of cryptocurrency and may have weaker security protocols than their DeFi counterparts.
At the time of writing, the total cryptocurrency market cap is $2 trillion after falling to $1.6 trillion in early August. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, is currently managing to reclaim the $59,000 level on Friday after falling to a weekly low of $56,100 on Thursday.
Market-leading altcoin Ethereum (ETH) is also up 1.3% over the past 24 hours and is currently trading just above its key $2,600 support level, after hitting a low of $2,500 on Thursday.
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
