‘Cryptocurrency scams, hacks cause a $1.2 billion loss in 2024’
New data analysis from Kryptocasinos.com claims that cryptocurrency users suffered losses surpassing $1.2 billion due to scams and exploits in 2024. The report highlights Ethereum as the most targeted blockchain, with over $228 million lost.
Centralised exchanges (CEXs) were identified as hackers’ primary targets, accounting for over 50% of the stolen funds. The analysis also revealed the prevalence of access control exploits and phishing scams as cybercriminals’ leading methods.
“These statistics for 2024 underline the persistent and evolving nature of security threats in the blockchain space, with well-established networks like Ethereum and Bitcoin, as well as emerging platforms like Blast and Ronin, facing significant losses. As the blockchain industry continues to grow, securing these networks remains one of the biggest challenges,” a spokesperson from Kryptocasinos.com, said.
The category of ‘other blockchains,’ which includes a variety of smaller or newer blockchain platforms, collectively accounted for 9.97% of the losses, with a total of $127.25 million lost. These blockchains, while innovative, tend to be less secure, as they often lack the maturity and development rigor seen in larger networks like Ethereum or Bitcoin.
BitForex was the fifth largest scam, the report claimed. The cryptocurrency exchange had shut down access to its platform after a suspicious outflow of about $56 million across several blockchains. CloudFlare’s DDoS protection service blocked users attempting to log in. The exchange stopped processing withdrawals and has not responded to customer support inquiries. This was an exit scam, also known as a rug pull.
The data used in the analysis was sourced from the REKT Database, focusing solely on losses incurred in 2024. The figures presented were calculated by subtracting any returned funds from the total lost funds, providing a more accurate representation of the financial impact of these security breaches.