According to Chainalysis, 2022 could “definitely” break the record, even though 2021 was the greatest year ever for cryptocurrency breaches.
$718 Million Stolen In October
According to Chainalysis, the overall worth of the hacks in October 2022 was close to $718 million. Making it “the biggest month in the biggest year ever for hacking activity.” Not even halfway through the month, according to Chainalysis, hundreds of millions have been taken advantage of through 11 distinct hacks on decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols.
On October 11, there were four hacks valued at about $122 million. Using a smart contract from the digital currency wallet Rabby Wallet, $1.89 million from the Ethereum bridge on the blockchain QANplatform, $2 million from TempleDAO, and a $118 million attack on the Solana-based Mango Markets, hackers stole $200,000 in cryptocurrency.
According to the blockchain analytics firm, 2021 was the biggest year for blockchain-based hacks ever in terms of both total values stolen and total hacks. However, at the current rate, 2022 might “certainly surpass” last year’s data since over $3 billion has been abused over 125 hacks.
Hacks Shifting to DeFi
The company is also noticing a shift in a pattern when it comes to hacks. The 2022 exploits are taking a different turn. The majority of hacks in 2019 occurred on centralized cryptocurrency exchanges, but as those businesses tightened their security, the vast majority of hacks, over 90% in 2022, occurred on DeFi protocols.
Cross-chain bridges are the most popular target for hackers, with three bridges being attacked this month accounting for 82% of October’s losses. The largest of these bridge breaches, according to Chainalysis, was an approximately $100 million vulnerability in the connection between Beacon Chain and the BNB Smart Chain of cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
Binance and Mango released statements this week assuring investors that the exploits made on their platforms are being neutralized. Freezes and blacklistings have been mentioned as possible remedies to the October hacks. This means that hackers may not be able to withdraw large chunks of the stolen money from DeFi protocols through centralized exchanges like Coinbase.
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