Total losses from crypto hacks near $100m after December incidents.
December 2023 has witnessed substantial losses in the realm of cryptocurrency theft, with the recent attack on Orbit Chain’s cross-chain bridge leading to a total loss of nearly $100 million for the month. This information has been reported by blockchain security firms.
On January 1, PeckShield, a blockchain security firm, reported that the $81.5 million exploit on the Orbit Bridge played a major role in making December the fifth-highest month for crypto hacks in 2023. They also mentioned that this exploit ranked as the ninth-highest hack targeting a cross-chain bridge in the past three years.
Orbit Bridge, which is the bridging service of the cross-chain protocol Orbit Chain protocol, was launched in South Korea in 2018. The hack was confirmed by Orbit Chain on December 31 at 8:52 pm UTC, after a security breach occurred. This breach resulted in significant losses of various cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum (ETH), USD Coin (USDC), Tether (USDT), and Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC).
In response to this breach, Orbit Chain’s team announced on January 1 that they are actively working to freeze the stolen assets. They are collaborating closely with global cryptocurrency exchanges and law enforcement agencies to address the situation.
According to estimates from blockchain security firms such as PeckShield, CertiK, and Beosin, the total losses due to hacks, scams, and exploits throughout 2023 range from $1.51 billion to $2 billion. It is worth noting that 17% of these losses can be attributed to the activities of the North Korean hacker group Lazarus.
Data from PeckShield reveals that September and November were particularly devastating, with losses exceeding $700 million in these two months alone. This includes significant incidents such as the Mixin Network’s loss of $200 million in September, as well as major exploits in November on Poloniex and HTX/Heco Bridge, which led to losses of $131.4 million and $113.3 million, respectively.
2023 also witnessed other notable hacks, such as Euler Finance losing $197 million in March and Multichain suffering a $125 million hack in July.
Despite these high-profile incidents, blockchain security firm Beosin highlighted a significant decrease in hacks, phishing scams, and rug pulls compared to 2022. Total losses in 2023 were down from approximately $4.38 billion in the previous year.
Hacks experienced the most significant decline, dropping from $3.6 billion in 2022 to $1.39 billion in 2023, marking a decrease of around 61.2%. This data suggests a relative improvement in the security and vigilance within the crypto sector, even as challenges continue to persist.
