The cryptocurrency community has seen an increase in the number of hacks in the first two months of 2024. As widely reported by Bitcoinist, hackers and scammers have been targeting high-profile figures and projects within the industry.
According to PeckShield, a cryptocurrency research firm specializing in security, the total value of cryptocurrency stolen in attacks increased by more than 97.6% in February compared to the previous month.
More than 21 cryptocurrency attacks occurred in February
In an Last February, hackers stole approximately $360.83 million in a cryptocurrency heist.
According to a previous report from PeckShield, $182.54 million was stolen in January. This means that the total amount of theft last month increased by 96.7%.
#PeckShieldAlert Hackers stole ~$360.83 million in over 21 attacks in February 2024, a 97.6% increase in MoM compared to January 2024. Additionally, ~1.8% of the stolen funds were returned, totaling ~$6.7 million. pic.twitter.com/MCykceNun5
— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) March 1, 2024
However, 21 hacks resulted in a 30% decrease in personal attacks. compare Until January. In the first month of this year, 30 different hacks were registered, including the hack of Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen on the last day of the month.
Attacks using Larsen’s address accounted for 70% of the total value stolen in January. Similarly, the PlayDapp hack that occurred in early February accounts for approximately 71% of the funds stolen that month.
The report also found that only 1.8% of the stolen funds were recovered, with only $6.7 million out of a total of $360 million. Most of the recovered funds came from negotiations with hackers involved in the Seneca attack, which ended in the return of $5.3 million.
Top 3 Attacks of the Month
These high-profile attacks appear to have targeted several people and projects within the cryptocurrency community. According to the report, the projects and individuals who suffered the most losses were PlayDapp, FixFloat, and the co-founders of Axie Infinity.
Undoubtedly, the biggest loser last month was the popular web3 gaming platform PlayDapp, which was initially robbed of 200 million PLA tokens.
The project later suffered the loss of an additional 1.4 billion tokens after attempts to negotiate with the criminals involved failed. As a result of the hackers’ bonanza, the gaming platform lost $290 million and ultimately decided to migrate to a new token to protect its customers.
Second, decentralized finance (DeFi) cryptocurrency exchange FlixedFloat suffered the theft of nearly $26 million in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) in the middle of this month.
Hackers dispersed funds to disrupt token tracking. The stolen Bitcoin was distributed across multiple addresses, while ETH funds were transferred to externally held accounts and a centralized mixer, eXch.
Finally, Jeff ‘Jihoz’ Zirlin suffered the third largest loss, with $9.7 million worth of Ether stolen. The Axie Infinity co-founder had two of his addresses hacked. Zirlin’s attack was reportedly caused by a ‘key leak’ that allowed the hacker to withdraw 3,248 ETH, which was immediately ‘tornado-cashed’.
These latest figures suggest that stolen funds are increasing at an alarming rate. before report PeckShield said the total value of stolen cryptocurrency funds in 2023 was approximately $342 million.
Last year’s value was a 25% decrease compared to 2022. But in the first two months of 2024, high-profile hacks have already surpassed the entire previous year’s worth.
Bitcoin is trading at $61,802 in the hourly chart. Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView.com
Featured image from Unsplash.com, chart from TradingView.com