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Crypto crime-related losses hit their lowest point since 2021 – here’s what’s changed
April 2024 marked a significant turning point for cryptocurrency security, witnessing a notable decline in losses related to hacker attacks, exploits, and scams. This drop, the lowest since 2021, brought relief to investors and industry players. Insights from Blockchain security platform CertiK reveal total losses for the month of approximately $25.7 million, marking a substantial decline of 141% compared to the previous month.
Unpack the numbers
Total losses in April 2024: Approximately $25.7 million
Apportionment of losses
- Take advantage of:
Most of the losses, totaling about $21 million, resulted from exploits. Exploits exploit vulnerabilities or weaknesses in smart contracts or blockchain protocols, posing a persistent threat to the crypto ecosystem.
- Get out of scams:
Exit scams, in which fraudulent projects vanish after raising money, contributed to approximately $4.3 million in losses. These scams lure investors with promises of high returns, then disappear with their funds.
- Flash loan attacks:
Small losses of around $129,000 were attributed to flash lending attacks, a tactic that uses uncollateralized loans within a single block of transactions to achieve illicit financial gain.
Despite the positive trend, there were significant cases of breaches and scams in April that resulted in significant losses. For example, the Condom meme coin disaster tricked users with a fake presale address on the Solana network, resulting in a loss of approximately $933,000. Another significant incident targeted the Bitcoin Lightning Network exchange FixedFloat on April 1, resulting in a loss of $3 million, marking the second hack on FixedFloat in 2023.
PeckShield’s perspective
In a separate analysis by on-chain security firm PeckShield, losses related to cryptocurrency hacks in April 2024 amounted to $60.2 million, down sharply from $187.6 million in March.
By comparison, April’s losses of $360.8 million showed a significant decline from the same period last year, which amounted to $440.9 million.
The distribution of April’s losses can be attributed to nearly 40 separate hacks, the largest of which belongs to Hedgey Finance, a token infrastructure provider, which lost $44.7 million due to a vulnerability on the Arbitrum network. Market participants such as FixedFloat and Pike Finance also suffered large losses.
What caused the decline?
Several key factors have contributed to this notable decline in losses attributed to hacks, exploits, and scams within the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
- Private key security
The fact that many of the Crypto hacks in April The significant decline in encounters with compromised private keys is the main reason for the decline in the number of hacker losses in the month. Private key breach is definitely one of the vital vulnerabilities of cryptocurrencies as it gives thieves free control power over digital wallets.
As previously reported in March, these 11 cases were related to private key compromise targeting protocols. This dropped significantly and the number remained at just three cases in April. Public key compromises have declined the most over the past month, which, in turn, has led to the most substantial reduction in total hacker retreats.
- Strengthened security and awareness measures
The total reduction in losses related to hacker attacks can also be linked to the strict security measures that are put in place, without forgetting that there is greater awareness among users and crypto platforms. They are updated more often, and as a result, things are more secure with many people checking and checking for vulnerabilities.
- Collaborative efforts against scams and fraud
The joint efforts of regulatory organizations, cybersecurity firms, and industry players to crack down on scams and frauds in the cryptocurrency realm play a role in reducing the number of hack attacks. Agencies have largely stepped up enforcement actions, increased their ability to monitor and ultimately collaborate. The ability to leave no stone unturned in discovering and dismantling scams reduces the possibility of criminals intervening.
Is the crypto space finally getting more secure? We are excited and excited about these changes!
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