TL;DR
- In six months, crypto thefts and hacks have surpassed the total for the previous year, with over $2.17 billion stolen from platforms and personal wallets.
- The $1.5 billion attack on Bybit, attributed to the Lazarus Group, stands as the largest recorded exploit, while unauthorized access to wallets now accounts for 23% of stolen funds.
- Crypto transfers are anonymous, irreversible, and make fund recovery extremely difficult.
In just six months, crypto-related thefts and hacks have already exceeded the total recorded throughout the entire previous year. Between January and June, more than $2.17 billion was stolen through attacks targeting platforms, services, and personal wallets, according to data from Chainalysis.
Most of this amount stems from the $1.5 billion hack suffered by Bybit in February, attributed to North Korea’s Lazarus Group, which is considered the largest exploit in the history of the crypto industry.
While attacks on exchanges remain significant in scale, incidents affecting individual users are rising. During the first half of the year, roughly 23% of stolen funds came from unauthorized access to personal wallets.
The majority of these cases involve tactics such as phishing and manipulation to obtain private keys. Eric Jardine, cybercrime analyst at Chainalysis, notes that the technical complexity behind these thefts has increased considerably, forcing criminals to refine their methods.
Physical Violence: A New Threat for Crypto Users
Coinbase also reported a May attack that could cost the company up to $400 million in compensations and remediation efforts. The rise in high-impact incidents raises concern for both platforms and users, who face increasingly severe digital and physical threats.
Alongside remote hacks, cases of direct physical violence aimed at gaining access to funds are being documented. This form of extortion, known as “wrench attacks,” involves threats and coercion to force victims to hand over their private keys. In response, some crypto holders have begun hiring private security to protect themselves.
Unlike traditional financial systems, transfers on crypto networks are anonymous and irreversible, drastically lowering the chances of recovering stolen funds. This feature turns any private key leak into an immediate and unrecoverable loss. Jardine warns that as centralized services and DeFi add more security layers, attackers grow increasingly sophisticated.
The threat no longer exists solely in the digital realm. Protecting crypto assets demands stronger responses that combine technology with preparedness against all types of risks.
