According to a report by blockchain security firm Immunefi, cryptocurrency hacks and related fraud losses significantly decreased by 40% in Q3 2024 as compared to the preceding year and amounted to $413 million.
This is a stunning improvement from $685 million lost in Q3 2023. Quarter-over-quarter, losses also fell 28 percent. Nonetheless, other considerable events were registered within the period. The biggest heist saw the WazirX exchange losing a staggering $235 million, while BingX was hacked for $52 million.
Major Hacks Dominate Q3 Losses
These two instances alone contributed to over 69% of the total losses for Q3. To be sure, their losses from fanatics’ actions, daring, such as rug pulls, amounted to only $3 million in three scenarios, which was therefore only 0.8 percent of losses in total. Compared to the same quarter in 2023, the number of scams decreased sharply by 86.4%.
DeFi exploitation incidents also experienced Johuri loss however it was drastic. In 31 incidents, the loss from DeFi hacks during the third quarter of 2023 totaled $103 million, representing a 79.2% decline from $500 million in Q3 2023.
Nevertheless, even after the overall reduction, There are still threats caused by CEX hacks. According to Immunefi founder Mitchell Amadour, the authoritarian character of key management is one of the major infrastructures on these platforms enforcers.
We’re seeing a higher number of incidents targeting DeFi, while CeFi [centralized finance] experiences fewer incidents but often with more severe consequences, with hundreds of millions in stolen funds in a single exploit. In CeFi, the biggest infrastructural issue is private key management, which is essential to maintaining the self-custody of crypto assets but is not typically subject to security audits. It requires rigorous key management policies, practices, and emergency plans.
The report commented that better wallet software in Q1 2024 aided in loss reduction, however a rise in CEX hacks in Q2 caused a 115% rise in losses for the quarter.
