$3.9B Worth of Crypto Assets Were Stolen In 2022, A 51% Decline From 2021

Immunefi, a bug bounty and security services platform for Web3, assesses the volume of crypto funds lost due to hacks and scams on a quarterly and yearly basis. They recently published “Crypto Losses in 2022,” report in which they found that $3,948,856,037 (or $3.9 billion) worth of crypto were stolen (or lost) across the Web3 ecosystem in

The report found that $3.7 billion was lost to hacks in 134 different hacking incidents, and $174 million was lost to fraud in 34 different scams.

The majority of those funds were lost by four projects: Ronin Network, BNB Chain, Wormhole, and FTX.

While it may appear to be a large sum of money to get stolen and scammed, it is down 51.2% from 2021, when over $8 billion was stolen, according to the report.

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Major Loss Trends

According to the report, hacking proved to be the predominant cause of losses, accounting for 95.6% of total losses. Whereas, frauds, scams, and rug pulls accounted for 4.4% of the total losses.

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Both decentralised finance (DeFi) and centralised finance (CeFi) took hard hits in 2022. 2022 witnessed  the implosion of the Terra/LUNA ecosystem and the downfall of the centralised crypto exchange FTX.

In addition to this, DeFi was the main target for hacking, accounting for 80.5% of total losses, while CeFi accounted for 19.5%.

In 2022, DeFi losses soared by 56.2% to $3.18 billion (in 155 different incidents), from $2 billion in 2021. Meanwhile, CeFi’s losses decreased by 87.3%, from $6 billion in 2021 to $768.8 million in 2022.

The BNB Chain and Ethereum were the two most targeted blockchains in 2022, with 65 and 49 incidents, respectively. BNB Chain and Ethereum accounted for 63.3% of all blockchain attacks. Solana came in third with 12 incidents, or 6.7% of overall attacks in 2022.

Crypto “losses” are likely to be in the billions in 2023 unless all projects, blockchains, protocols, and other digital asset organisations prioritise security.

Also Read: Top Undervalued Crypto Coins To Invest In January 2023

Dhirendra is a writer, producer, and journalist who has worked in the media industry for more than 3 years. A technology enthusiast, a curious person who loves to research and know about things. When he is not working, you can find him reading and understanding the world through the lens of the Internet. Contact him at [email protected]

The presented content may include the personal opinion of the author and is subject to market condition. Do your market research before investing in cryptocurrencies. The author or the publication does not hold any responsibility for your personal financial loss.