Crypto hacks saw a significant decline in June 2024, with losses decreasing by 54.2% compared to the previous month. According to data from crypto analytics firm PeckShield, approximately 20 hacking incidents were reported in June, resulting in a net loss of nearly $176 million. This starkly contrasts to May’s losses, which amounted to $385 million.
May experienced the highest number of crypto loses in 2024 up to now. The private key hack of the crypto exchange DMM on May 31 accounted for the largest single loss, draining $305 million worth of Bitcoin from the exchange. In June, the BtcTurk crypto exchange exploit was the most significant, with hackers making off over $100 million in crypto assets.
Crypto Hack Losses Drop in June
Early calculations done by investigator ZachXBT using the information on the chain initially set the BtcTurk hack losses at approximately $55 million. However, the second-largest exploit in June hit the centralized exchange Lykke with a loss of $22 million. Nonetheless, the third-largest exploit happened on the decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol UwU Lend, which took a $19.4 million loss.
Three DeFi protocols followed the two centralized exchanges that ranked highest for biggest losses in June. This continuing trend underlines that centralized platforms remain vulnerable to hacking incidents despite increased security measures.
May recorded the highest crypto losses in 2024, almost $385 million in net losses. On the other hand, February suffered a loss of $360 million, while in April, the lowest number of losses was $60.19 million.
Although net losses markedly declined during June, the second quarter of 2024 saw a 115% net increase compared to the same period last year. Q2 2023 saw a record $220 million in losses, while Q2 2024 witnessed more than $572 million. The great majority of these losses were caused by the centralized exchange hacks.
In the second quarter of 2024, centralized protocols and exchange exploits were responsible for $401 million or 70% of the total losses. This quarter, even though the losses from the centralized exchanges were more prominent, the overall percentage of failed attacks on these platforms is very low. In the conventional framework, hackers could compromise just 5 times, and opposite to this decentralized protocol, cyberpunks broke through 62 times.
The sharp decline in crypto hacks in June is a good signal for the industry. However, the high rise in losses during Q2 of 2024 focused on the continuous need for strong security bases to prevent more sophisticated hacking attempts.
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