Cryptocurrency fraud and hacking losses are down 12%
Blockchain security company Immunefi released a study on losses due to cryptocurrency fraud on May 30. Funds lost to cryptocurrency fraud and hacks decreased 12% year-over-year. The report showed that there was a total of $473,229,944 in total loss in 2024 due to hacks and fraudulent activities. Since the beginning of the year, 108 specific incidents have been reported. This is a 20% decrease from the same period in 2023, totaling $595,438,324.
In May 2024, $52,371,900 was lost due to hacking and fraud in 21 specific incidents. This is a 12% decrease from May 2023, when reported losses totaled $59,344,389, and a 28% decrease from the previous month.
The findings underscore the continued downward trend in Web3 industry losses due to fraud and hacking incidents. Earlier in March, Immunefi noted a 23% year-over-year decrease in losses for the first quarter of 2024.
The bulk of the losses in May were due to two significant attacks. Gala Games, a Web3 gaming protocol, suffered a hack that resulted in approximately $21 million in losses. In another incident, a smart contract exploit targeted Sonne Finance, resulting in $20 million in losses. Together, these two attacks accounted for 78% of the total losses for the month.
In May 2024, hacking attacks continued to be the leading cause of losses compared to fraud. Loss analysis shows that fraud accounted for only 3.3% of total losses in May 2024, while hacks accounted for 96.7%. Ethereum and BNB Chain were the most vulnerable networks in May 2024, accounting for 62% of total blockchain losses.
Ethereum suffered the highest number of individual attacks with 9 incidents representing 43% of total losses on the targeted networks. The BNB network experienced 4 incidents, representing 19% of the total. Base, Arbitrium, Solana, TON, Blast, Fantom, Optimism and Polygon each experienced 1 incident, representing 4.8% of the total, respectively.
About Immunefi
Immunefi is the leading bug bounty and security services platform for web3, protecting over $60 billion in user funds. The company has a huge community of legalized hackers who analyze blockchain projects and smart contract code, find and responsibly disclose vulnerabilities, and get paid for making the crypto market safer.
