In May, the cryptocurrency sector faced significant losses amounting to $42.6 million due to various factors such as exploits, flash loans, and exit scams. While these losses were substantial, there was some relief as approximately $96.2 million was recovered, mitigating the economic impact to some extent.
One of the major contributors to losses in the crypto sector was flash loan attacks, which resulted in approximately $20.7 million in losses. Sonne Finance was the hardest hit, losing $20 million, followed by TLN Protocol with a loss of $746,000. Additionally, GPU and Saturn Token also suffered losses totaling $32,394 and $8,343, respectively.
Exploits also played a significant role in the losses, accounting for around $19.7 million. Gala Games experienced the most substantial loss at $21.6 million, followed by AlexLab at $4.3 million, Pump Fun at $1.9 million, GNUS.ai at $1.28 million, and Orion at $947,000.
While less common, exit scams still contributed approximately $1.8 million to the overall losses in the sector. Among these, Trees On Sol incurred a loss of $1.11 million, Pii Park lost $490,000, Novamind reported a loss of $123,019, and Arbalest faced a loss of $91,520.
Interestingly, flash loan attacks have consistently resulted in significant losses in odd-numbered months throughout the year. January, March, and May saw losses of $15.3 million, $21.9 million, and $20.7 million, respectively. On the other hand, losses in February and April were less than $150,000 each. February stood out as the month with the most severe losses overall due to exit scams, totaling $58.3 million.
Looking at the year-to-date data for 2024, it is evident that over $473 million worth of cryptocurrency has been lost to hacks and rug pulls across 108 incidents. Decentralized finance (DeFi) remains a primary target for hackers, while centralized finance companies have not experienced any attacks this year. Last year, the sector faced over $2 billion in losses due to hacks and exploits, marking a significant decrease from the previous year.
Despite efforts to enhance security, cryptocurrency hacks and exploits remain a persistent issue. Just recently, DMM Bitcoin, a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, reported a loss of 48 billion yen ($305 million) in Bitcoin due to a hack. This incident serves as a reminder of the ongoing challenges faced by the cryptocurrency sector in ensuring the security of digital assets.
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