The crypto trade skilled its second-lowest month-to-month losses this month, November 2024, with $71 million misplaced throughout 26 incidents, in accordance with blockchain safety agency Immunefi.
This marked a major enchancment in comparison with November 2023, which recorded $343 million in losses, representing a 79% year-over-year drop and a 4% lower month-over-month.
12 months-to-date (YTD) figures present the trade misplaced $1.48 billion in 2024 as a consequence of hacks and rug pulls in 209 incidents. This represents a 15% decline in comparison with the $1.7 billion misplaced throughout the identical interval in 2023.
November hacks
In line with Immunefi, two incidents accounted for many of November’s losses. DeFi mission Thala Labs misplaced $25.5 million, whereas the memecoins buying and selling terminal DEXX suffered a $21 million loss.
The agency famous that every one reported circumstances for the month concerned DeFi platforms, which surpassed centralized finance (CeFi) as the first goal. DeFi incidents accounted for 100% of the misplaced funds.
In the meantime, hacks remained the main explanation for losses, with $70.99 million misplaced throughout 24 hacking incidents. Rug pulls contributed a smaller quantity, with $25,300 misplaced in two circumstances.
Throughout chains, Binance-backed BNB Chain was probably the most focused blockchain, answerable for practically 47% of the whole losses throughout all chains. It added:
“Ethereum experienced 9 incidents, representing 30% of the total. Solana, Polygon, Fantom, Avalanche, Arbitrum, and Aptos each experienced one incident, accounting for 3.3%, respectively.”
CEXs dominate 50% of 2024 crypto losses
Centralized exchanges (CEXs) have emerged as a major goal in 2024, accounting for nearly 50% of whole crypto-related losses year-to-date. Immunefi reported that CEX-related losses totaled $724 million, marking the best share of assaults on centralized platforms since 2021.
The resurgence in CEX vulnerabilities grew to become notably evident in the course of the third quarter of the yr when 72% of crypto losses stemmed from CeFi hacks. For context, a single assault on Indian trade WazirX in July resulted in a $235 million loss.
Immunefi highlighted that CeFi’s vulnerabilities usually stem from compromised sizzling wallets, permitting attackers to empty substantial funds. The $724 million misplaced by CEXs in 2024 got here from simply 9 incidents, whereas an analogous quantity in DeFi was unfold throughout 200 assaults.
The safety agency identified that blackhat hackers have adopted progressive strategies to take advantage of centralized platforms.
These methods embody impersonating recruiters or securing pretend job placements to infiltrate inside groups and infrastructure. Such threats usually go undetected till vital harm happens, underscoring their rising sophistication.
