2024 Sees Soaring Numbers of Cryptocurrency Theft as Bitcoin Exchange Hacks Escalate: TRM Labs Report Reveals

In the initial half of 2024, hackers lifted cryptocurrencies valued at more than double the U.S. dollar amount of the preceding year’s first six months,

as detailed by a recent analysis

from the blockchain analytics company TRM Labs.

With $1.38 billion reported stolen by June 24, the figure is well over twice the $657 million taken around the same date in 2023. The past months of 2024 have almost matched the total thefts of $1.7 billion for all of the previous year,

according to TRM’s findings

.

Majority of the losses from this year were due to a few massive breaches, with the five largest heists comprising 70% of the stolen funds. Among the significant cases was

the misappropriation of over 4,500 BTC

from the Japanese platform DMM Bitcoin, presumed to involve purloined private keys or

address manipulation schemes

.

TRM highlights that the prevalent forms of attack trends continue to be private key seizures, exploitation of smart contracts, and flash loan maneuvers. The cryptocurrency panorama, with respect to defense against or frequency of attacks, hasn’t seen significant alteration from the previous year; however, a higher average value of cryptocurrency this year could be inflating the sum lost.

No unique trend has been spotted each month in 2024, with each month reporting greater theft volumes compared to the same months in 2023. Yet, the total of thefts in 2024 still remains below the benchmark set in 2022.

These significant heists underscore the sweeping consequences of such breaches within the crypto trade, a factor recently recalled with

Mt. Gox moving $2.7 billion in BTC

as part of its initiative to settle with creditors.

Following the dissemination of the Mt. Gox transactions, the cost of

Bitcoin

dipped under $54,000, marking the

lowest valuation since February

.

While security infringements have continually haunted the cryptocurrency sector, avoiding them remains as challenging as ever. TRM advocates for a layered security strategy for investors and organizations that should involve routine audits, encryption, and the use of multisig wallets to secure digital assets better.

Decrypt

made contact with TRM Labs for additional insights or commentary on the study, but a response was not provided immediately.

Edited by
Andrew Hayward