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Crypto hackers stole almost $2 billion in H1 2022
July 2022 by Atlas VPN
The interest in cryptocurrencies is diminishing worldwide — the NFTs market is dwindling, and Bitcoin is experiencing the biggest price drop in 11 years. Yet, cybercriminals continue to make billions by targeting various crypto projects.
According to the data analyzed by the Atlas VPN team, based on the numbers provided by Slowmist Hacked, cybercriminals looted $1.97 billion from 175 crypto project hacks in the first half of 2022. The Ethereum ecosystem suffered the most, with more than $1 billion stolen in 32 events.
Monetary losses were calculated based on the conversion rate of a particular cryptocurrency at the time of a hack or scam event.
The Solana ecosystem occupies the second spot on the list. Cybercriminals stole $383.9 million from Solana-related projects in only 5 events.
Next up is the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) ecosystem, with $141.4 million in losses. In total, the BSC ecosystem faced 47 hack and scam events in the first half of this year — more than any other crypto project.
Meanwhile, non-fungible token (NFT) projects earned cybercriminals $84.6 million in 45 events, while the Fantom ecosystem brought in $54.8 million in 8 events.
Crypto project-related cybercrime nearly doubles in H1 2022
Cryptocurrencies are often advertised as a more secure alternative to traditional payment methods, but numbers tell a different story. In fact, the number of cryptocurrency project-related cybercrime events keeps growing.
If we compare this year and last year’s numbers, cybercrime numbers affecting crypto projects rose by 94%, from 90 in H1 2021 to 175 in H1 2022. Q1 of 2022 saw 79 cybercrime events — 108% more than Q1 2021 with 38 events. In the meantime, Q2 of 2022 had 96 cybercrime events, an 85% rise from 52 in Q2 2021. Overall, cybercrime events increased by over a fifth (22%) from the first quarter of this year to the second.
