Business Desk 
Dec 20, 2024
With hackers and cybercriminals launching over 38 million phishing attacks in 2024, a total of $2.2 billion has been stolen this year from cryptocurrency platforms.
This marks a 21% surge compared to the previous year. Notably, in 2023, hackers stole $1.8bn in cryptocurrencies.
According to a report from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis, the hacking amount exceeded $1bn for the fourth straight year and the number of incidents surged to 303 from 282 in 2023.
The cryptocurrency hacks linked to North Korea saw a record high of $1.3bn in virtual currencies. This accounts for more than half of the total figure, the report stated.
"As the digital asset market experiences rapid growth, it's not surprising to see an increase in illicit crypto activity," Chainalysis' cybercrimes research lead Eric Jardine stated.
“Countering the proliferation of these crimes especially fraud will undoubtedly be a key challenge for the industry in the new year. Compromises to private key that controls access to users’ assets accounted for the majority of stolen crypto this year with most of the attacks targeting centralised platforms," Jardine noted.
Some notable hacks this year include the theft of more than $305 million from Japan's DMM Bitcoin exchange in May and the loss of $235 million from India's WazirX in July.
