Alongside the rising adoption and worth of crypto property, theft can be on the rise. This yr, the overall worth of cryptocurrency stolen surged 21%, reaching a considerable $2.2 billion. And in accordance with a Chainalysis report launched on Thursday, greater than half of this quantity was stolen by North Korea-affiliated hacking teams.
Earlier this yr, the United Nations Safety Council stated that North Korean hackers stole $3 billion in cryptocurrency property between 2017 and 2023. In 2024, hackers linked to North Korea accounted for 61% of the overall quantity stolen — price $1.34 billion, in 47 instances, per the report by Chainalysis.
Geopolitics within the image
The report highlighted that almost all crypto hacks occurred between January and July this yr, however the quantity stolen had already exceeded $1.58 billion, round 84.4% increased than the identical interval in 2023.
Following July, nonetheless, hacking occasions turned considerably rare, doubtlessly attributable to geopolitics. Chainalysis attributes it to North Korea’s alliance with Russia, which emerged after a gathering between Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, and Kim Jong Un, the chief of North Korea, in June.
The quantity of crypto property stolen by North Korea-linked hackers dropped by 53.73% after the June summit, per Chainalysis. North Korea, which has elevated its cooperation with Russia, may need switched up its cybercrime techniques, the report says.
Victims want stronger safety
Crypto hacking continues to pose a relentless menace, with over a billion {dollars}’ price of crypto being hacked in 4 separate years inside the previous decade — 2018 ($1.5 billion), 2021 ($3.3 billion), 2022 ($3.7 billion), and 2023 ($1.8 billion).
Decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms that don’t implement correct safety practices have been the first targets of cryptocurrency hacks within the final three years, and accounted for the best quantity of stolen property in Q1 2024. Nevertheless, between Q2 and Q3 2024, centralized companies had been the principle goal of assaults.
A number of notable instances of centralized companies that had been attacked in 2024 embrace DMM Bitcoin, a Japanese crypto trade that misplaced $305 million (48 billion yen) in bitcoin, and WazirX, an Indian crypto trade, which halted withdrawals in July after a safety breach by North Korea-linked hackers.
