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Top 5 Largest Crypto Hacks in 2022

Cryptocurrency hacking is one of the most prevalent topics amid the crypto bear market in 2022. While October is currently the month with the highest hacking activity in the cryptocurrency space, the year 2022 is on pace to become the worst in the entire history of the cryptocurrency, as it’s currently neck-and-neck with 2021. 

With more than half the month remaining, October has surpassed previous months in hacking activity, especially with four attacks yesterday. There have been 11 different attacks that resulted in the theft of $718 million through DeFi protocols, according to data from Chainalysis.

Image Source: Chainalysis

Chainalysis showed that if these attacks continue, 2022 would likely surpass 2021 as the year with the most hacking incidents. Over $3 billion has been stolen by hackers in 125 hacks.

Let’s look at the top 5 considerable hacks in 2022. This list is ordered by the amount lost during the hack, from lowest to highest.

Crypto.com

  • Date: January 2022
  • Amount Lost: $35 Million

A limited number of people that had unapproved cryptocurrency withdrawals on their accounts were discovered by Crypto.com on January 17, 2022. To launch an investigation and rectify the problem, Crypto.com swiftly suspended all token withdrawals, according to details from the announcement on the website. The event harmed 483 users of Crypto.com.  4,836.26 ETH, 443.93 BTC, and almost US$66,200 additional coins were taken without authorization.

Harmony Bridge

  • Date: June 2022
  • Amount Lost: $100 million

The Horizon bridge theft, which totaled about $100MM, was discovered by the Harmony team. The group acknowledged collaborating with forensic experts and national law enforcement to find the offender and recover the stolen money. The team adds, in a tweet, that the trustless BTC bridge was unaffected by the hack and that its funds and assets, which are in decentralized vaults, were secure.

Wintermute

  • Date: September 2022
  • Amount Lost: $160 Million

Evgeny Gaevoy, the founder and CEO of cryptocurrency market maker Wintermute, stated in a tweet that their defi activities were compromised for roughly $160M. He did point out that the incident had no impact on Cefi or OTC activities.

Gaevoy also stated in another tweet his attempt to urge the hacker to send all of the money except the $16 million USDC to a specified wallet address. He also pledged a 10% bounty on the funds obtained.

Binance

  • Date: October 2022
  • Amount Lost: $570 million

The “BSC Token Hub,” a native cross-chain bridge connecting BNB Beacon Chain (BEP2) and BNB Smart Chain (BEP20 or BSC), was the subject of an exploit. 2 million BNB in total was taken, which is equivalent to $570 million. The low-level proof was cleverly forged into a single shared library to enable the exploit.

The team continued by expressing gratitude for all the support received from security professionals, projects, and validators; as a result, the vast bulk of the funds are still in control.

Axie Infinity Ronin Network

  • Date: March 2022
  • Amount Lost: $625 Million

173,600 Ethereum and 25.5 million USDC have been looted from the Ronin bridge, according to an announcement from their official Twitter account. 

Katana Dex and the Ronin bridge have been put on hold. The team also stated in the same tweet that they are coordinating with investors, forensic cryptologists, and law enforcement authorities to ensure that all monies are recovered or repaid. According to the release, all AXS, RON, and SLP aboard Ronin are currently secure.

The cryptocurrency market has expanded rapidly over the past year, and these repeated hacks have highlighted the sector’s vulnerability. This hurts the market because it gravely influences investor trust in the sector and gives regulators more justification to target the market with stricter regulations. To keep their system safe from hackers, projects should strive to hire more security professionals.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

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Image Source: Max Bender/Unsplash // Image Effects by Colorcinch