The global crypto market reported a loss of over $3.8 billion in crypto hacking and related thefts by hackers in 2022. US-based blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis published a report in which it claimed that 2022 was the biggest year ever for crypto hacking across the world. It added that North Korea-linked hackers drove much of the last year’s crypto hacking activity, shattering their own yearly record for stealing cryptocurrencies. According to a report by Reuters, North Korean-related accounts suffered a massive loss of millions of dollars in valuation. However, this did not impede hackers in the country from stealing an estimated $1.7 billion worth in several hacks in the year 2022.
The Chainalysis report said, Korean hackers “stole an estimated $1.7 billion worth of cryptocurrency across several hacks attributed to them.” It further added that North Korea-linked hackers, such as those in the cybercriminal syndicate Lazarus Group, have been the most prolific cryptocurrency hackers over the last few years. Many experts believe that the North Korean government is using these stolen cryptocurrencies and money to “fund its nuclear weapons programs.”
Last year, US law enforcement seized about $30 million in stolen funds from North Korean hackers. Commenting on the crypto hacking, Chainalysis asserted that these hacks will get harder and less fruitful with each passing year.
Cryptocurrency hacking activity “ebbed and flowed” throughout the last year. However, the massive hikes in crypto hacking theft were reported to have occurred in March and October. About $775.7 million was stolen during the month of October in 32 separate attacks, while March witnessed the crypto theft of $732.4 million. And the month of November 2022 was ranked third in terms of $531.9 million in crypto thefts.
The decentralised finance (DeFi) protocols were the primary target of crypto hackers since 2021. And this only got intensified in 2022. Chainalysis reported that DeFi protocols were victims of 82.1 percent of all cryptocurrency thefts by hackers. This is an increase from 73.3 percent in 2021.
The report further added that 64 percent of the $3.1 billion in stolen crypto from DeFi came from cross-chain bridge protocols. Cross-chain bridges are protocols that allow users to port their cryptocurrency from one blockchain to another.
About $1.1 billion was stolen in hacks of the DeFi protocols by North Korean hackers.These hackers send much of their stolen assets to other DeFi protocols that are not listed on centralised exchanges. They do this to convert/swap their stolen assets into more liquid assets.
Last year was one of the worst years for crypto in terms of illegal transactions of over $20.1 billion, reported Chainalysis.
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