In the month of March 2024, the crypto space experienced over 30 hacks resulting in losses of approximately $187.29 million, with around $98.8 million of stolen funds successfully recovered. Despite the decrease in losses compared to February, the numbers still surpassed those of January. The most significant incident was the Munchables hack, where the hacker returned stolen cryptocurrency following negotiations. The top five incidents also included the CurioNetwork breach, the Prisma Finance hack, the NFPrompt unauthorized access, and the WOOFi exploit. PeckShield’s data revealed that most of the recovered funds came from the Munchables incident.
One of the major incidents in March involved the Prisma Finance protocol, where approximately $11 million in digital assets were stolen. The protocol froze its platform for investigation following the hack, and negotiations were initiated with the hacker. Similarly, the Curio hack saw losses estimated at $40 million, making it the second-largest loss incident for the month. The NFPrompt platform, backed by Binance, experienced unauthorized access resulting in $10 million in losses, while the WOOFi decentralized exchange suffered losses of about $8.5 million. Overall, the month saw a decrease in losses compared to February, but still exceeded January figures.
In the first quarter of 2024, the total amount lost to hacking and fraudulent activities in the crypto space reached approximately $336.3 million, marking a decrease from the previous year. The report outlined 46 hacking incidents and 15 cases of fraudulent activities during this period. Two projects suffered significant losses, amounting to $144.5 million, with the most significant attack targeting the Orbit Bridge protocol on New Year’s Eve. The quarter also saw successful recovery of stolen funds from seven exploits, totaling $73.9 million.
The most significant attack in the first quarter of 2024 was the Orbit Bridge protocol incident, which resulted in losses totaling $81.7 million. The Munchables exploit of $62 million was the second-largest attack of the quarter. Hacking incidents dominated the losses, accounting for 95.6% of the total losses across 46 incidents, while fraudulent activities made up 4.4% in 15 incidents. Ethereum was the most targeted blockchain, followed by the BNB Chain, with both networks accounting for 73% of the total losses. The number of attacks decreased by 17.6% from the previous year.
Overall, the crypto space saw a decrease in hacking incidents and fraudulent activities in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the previous year. While the total losses amounted to $336.3 million, successful recovery of stolen funds from some of the major incidents provided relief to the affected projects. Despite the challenges posed by security breaches, efforts to mitigate risks and enhance cybersecurity measures continue to be a top priority for the industry.
