Last May, the cryptocurrency community suffered massive losses to hackers, resulting in the largest losses recorded to date in 2024. Hackers pocketed $385 million in May, highlighting the sophistication of this malware, according to a report from blockchain security firm Peckshield. The ongoing need for effective security measures by actors and the digital asset industry.
Cryptocurrency losses increase 666% in May – Peckshield
According to a report by Peckshield, the cryptocurrency industry saw approximately 30 hacking cases in May 2024.
Among these incidents, a May 31 attack on Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DMM Bitcoin resulted in the loss of 4,500 bitcoins worth $305 million. The heist was the largest hack this month and so far in 2024. It was also the second-largest cryptocurrency hack in Japan, following the $533 million Coincheck theft in 2018.
#PeckShieldAlert In May 2024, up to 30 hacks occurred in the cryptocurrency space, resulting in losses of up to $574.6 million and hackers’ profits reaching up to $385 million. This is an increase of approximately 666% compared to April 2024.#Top 5 hacking:
–#DMMBitcoin: $305 million
–#GALAGame: $212 million (hacker… pic.twitter.com/2n5YUaw3OQ— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) June 1, 2024
Another major hack involved cryptocurrency gaming project Gala Games, which suffered a severe network breach on May 20th. In this project, malicious actors were able to mint 5 billion GALA tokens, worth approximately $212 million. However, through quick security measures, Gala’s development team was able to reduce the loss to approximately $22.4 million.
Other major hacks in May included account breaches of DeFi protocol Sonne Finance and Coinbase, resulting in the loss of $20 million and $18 million worth of assets, respectively. A total of $575 million was stolen by hackers, but following Gala Games’ impressive recovery, malicious actors only made $385 million in profits.
Compared to April, when total losses were $60 million, the numbers reported in May represent a remarkable 666% increase in assets stolen by attackers. Even more impressively, this figure represents a 2,300% increase compared to the loss of $14.6 million in May 2023.
Undoubtedly, the rapid increase in hacking incidents and asset losses means there will be a continued need for stronger security measures in the digital asset space, especially as new industries strive for mainstream adoption in the global financial scene.
Cryptocurrency Market Overview
In other news, the cryptocurrency market has remained relatively stable with minimal movement in major assets over the past 24 hours. The total cryptocurrency market cap increased slightly by 0.65% on Sunday, reaching $2.54 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.
The current value of market leader Bitcoin is $67,812, reflecting a slight rise of 0.11% over the past day. Likewise, other major tokens such as Ethereum and BNB also recorded slight gains, with daily gains of 0.31% and 0.35%, respectively.
Featured image from The Economic Times, chart from Tradingview