Global: Chainalysis report says $3.8 billion lost in crypto hacks in 2022

A new report by Blockchain Analytics firm, Chainalysis estimates that $3.8 billion was lost to hack’s by the cryptocurrency sector in 2022.

An exert from its 2023 Crypto Crime Report released earlier this week stated that about 82.1 percent of this figure was lost by Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol hacks.

In a single month alone, precisely in October 2022, $775.7 million was stolen in 32 separate hacks, the report said.

“#DeFi protocols as victims accounted for 82.1% of all #cryptocurrency stolen by hackers — a total of $3.1 billion — up from 73.3% in 2021.

“2022 was the biggest year ever for crypto hacking at $3.8B. Hacking activity ebbed and flowed throughout the year, with huge spikes in March and October, the latter of which became the biggest single month ever for crypto hacking, as $775.7M was stolen in 32 separate attacks.

“Of the $3.1Bn stolen from DeFi protocols, 64% came from cross-chain bridge protocols specifically. Bridges are an attractive target for hackers because smart contracts become huge, centralized repositories of funds backing the assets that have been bridged to the new chain.

On the major players responsible, the report attributed North Korean linked hackers to about $1.7 billion of cryptocurrency stolen from various hacks

“Now let’s look at the role of North Korea-linked hackers, who drove much of 2022’s hacking activity and shattered their yearly record with $1.7 billion stolen worth of cryptocurrency across several hacks.

“$1.1 billion of that total was stolen in hacks of DeFi protocols, making North Korea one of the driving forces behind the DeFi hacking trend that intensified in 2022.

“Besides DeFi protocols, North Korea-linked hackers also tend to send large sums to mixers. Funds from hacks carried out by North Korea-linked hackers move to mixers at a much higher rate than funds stolen by other individuals or groups,”the report said.