Crypto Hacks Tumble to $24.7M in December, Setting 2024’s Lowest Record

Highlights:

• In December last year, hackers stole a total of $24.7 million in cryptocurrency.
• LastPass experienced the largest loss last month, with $12.38 million in assets stolen.
• The crypto industry suffered a total loss of $2.3 billion in the previous year.

According to PeckShieldAlert, the crypto space experienced a significant drop in valuables forfeited to hackers in December. The blockchain security firm relayed the new development on its verified X handle, where it noted that investors lost about $24.7 million to several scam schemes in December.

Relative to the $85.53 million forfeited in November, December’s figure represented a 71% decline. Additionally, the Blockchain security outfit added that last month witnessed over twenty-five successful fraudulent activities.

Between September and December, the chart displaying stolen crypto assets valuation mirrored a gradual downward trajectory. The declining trend implies that crypto firms are putting in more effort to ensure tighter security.

Meanwhile, May and February concluded 2024 as the worst-hit months. Traders forfeited $574.6 million and $360.83 million, respectively. With 2025 kicking off, market participants would prefer the declining trend to persist.

However, hackers are consistently exploring new means of siphoning unsuspecting traders’ funds. Therefore, chances abound that January might experience a jump in crypto scam schemes.

#PeckShieldAlert December 2024 saw 25+ hacks in the crypto space, resulting in ~$24.7 million in losses—a 71% decrease compared to last month. #Top5 Hacks:
–#LastPass: $12.38 million
–#Yeifinance: $2.2 million
–#GemPad: $2.2 million
–#MEMECoin Drainer: A victim was drained… pic.twitter.com/p1Y8vjLMfp

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) January 1, 2025

Ranking December Hack Incidents

Still, in the same tweet, PeckShieldAlert highlighted the scam schemes that resulted in significant losses in December. Among the scam incidents last month, the hack on LastPass topped the list, with investors forfeiting $12.38 million.

YeiFinance and GemPad followed closely with hack incidents, resulting in losses valued at $2.2 million each. Both platforms are Decentralized Finance (DeFi) outlets, which invariably implies that DeFi perceived tight security did not prevent cyber thieves from wreaking havoc.

Another event that attracted considerable attention in December was the memecoin drainer on an unsuspecting victim. The trader lost about $2.2 million worth of crypto to scammers on the Solana (SOL).

Finally, the last spotlighted compromise was on another DeFi platform, FEG. According to reports, FEG’s cross-chain message verification procedure experienced an error that resulted in the loss of $1.3 million worth of FEG tokens.

Comprehensive Crypto Hacks Report for 2024

CyverAlerts, another reputable blockchain security company, recently shared a new tweet conveying comprehensive statistics of crypto hacks in 2024. CyverAlerts noted that the crypto space forfeited $2.3 billion in 2024. The stolen sum marked a 40% increment from the value recorded in 2023. It also noted that 2024 witnessed roughly 165 Web3 hack attempts

It is worth noting that the blockchain security firm mentioned in its report that Access Control ranks as one of the most vulnerable scamming portals. According to the report, it accounted for 81% of the hack incidents in 2024, highlighting the highly fragile nature of custodial mismanagement.

🚨 Web3 Cyber Threats Surge in 2024

Our latest report reveals a stark reality: 2024 saw $2.3 billion in losses from Web3 #hacks across 165 incidents—a 40% exploit increase from last year.

🔎 Access control breaches accounted for 81% of these losses, exposing the fragility of… pic.twitter.com/pdVJ3mI5hY

— 🚨 Cyvers Alerts 🚨 (@CyversAlerts) January 1, 2025

The report noted that while scammers seemed to always discover tricky means to steal investors’ valuables, recovery efforts have surged significantly. In 2024, Blockchain companies successfully recovered $1.3 billion in stolen assets.

Meanwhile, the Ethereum (ETH) network remains the most vulnerable outlet for scammers to explore. CyverAlerts stated that ETH topped the list of the most affected Blockchains last year, with over $1.2 billion in forfeited valuables. Another valuable insight in CyverAlerts’ report was that Pig Butchering accounted for one of the most dominant scam techniques.