$656M lost from crypto hacks, scams, and rug pulls in H12023: Report

Approximately $215 million of stolen assets have since been recovered.

According to a June 30 report by Web3 security firm Beosin, the total value of cryptocurrencies lost in scams, hacks, and rug pulls amounted to $656 million during the first quarter of 2023. This includes the loss of $471.43 million in 108 protocol attacks, $108 million in various phishing scams, and $75.87 million over 110 rug pulls. For hacks, the amount represented a significant decrease over H1 2022 and H2 2022, where $1.91 billion and $1.69 billion were lost, respectively. In addition, Beosin analysts wrote:

“Approximately $215 million of stolen assets were recovered, accounting for 45.5% of all stolen assets. In contrast, in 2022, only 8% were recovered. $113 million of stolen assets were transferred to mixers: $45.38M into Tornado Cash and $68.14M into other mixers.”

In a dashboard compiled by Beosin and Footprint Analytics, only one project was hacked for more than $100 million, that being Euler Finance’s $195 million flash loan hack on March 13. The firm opened redemptions on April 12 after hackers returned most of the stolen assets. 

The vast majority of crypto lost in H1 2023 were coins and tokens minted on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, at 75.6%. Meanwhile, the second largest stolen asset class, BNB tokens, came at just 2.6%.

Furthermore, most of the stolen crypto was lost due to smart contract vulnerabilities (56%), while 21.4% had no clear identifiable reasons for their loss. Nevertheless, the numbers represent a significant decrease over H2 2021, where a record $2.1 billion in crypto was lost due to hacks, phishing scams, and rug pulls.

H1 2023 Web3 Security Statistics

Total losses from hacks, phishing scams, and rug pulls in Web3 reached $655.61 million in the first half of 2023.

Among them,
108 attacks -> $471.43M
Phishing scams -> $108M
110 rug pulls -> $75.87M pic.twitter.com/8Q9kmDETfQ

— Beosin Alert (@BeosinAlert) June 30, 2023

Magazine: Should crypto projects ever negotiate with hackers? Probably