As a seasoned crypto investor with a decade-long journey navigating the volatile world of digital assets, I find the recent surge in crypto thefts alarming yet unsurprising. The meteoric rise of Bitcoin’s value in 2024 has undeniably attracted the attention of cybercriminals, turning centralized exchanges into prime targets.
2024 has seen a significant surge in the risk for cryptocurrency investors and related platforms, as reported thefts from crypto hacks have almost doubled in the initial seven months of the year, reaching an astounding $1.6 billion, according to data from Chainalysis, a blockchain analysis company.
Crypto Theft Skyrockets In 2024
As an analyst, I’ve noticed that while the financial loss due to stolen funds has significantly escalated this year, the number of cyberattacks or hacks experienced only saw a minimal uptick. To be more precise, we went from 145 incidents in the same period last year (2023) to 149 hacks as of now in 2024.
Eric Jardine, who serves as the head of cybercrime research at Chainalysis, attributes a significant part of the increase in stolen cryptocurrency values to the impressive rise in the worth of different digital currencies during the year 2024.
At the start of this year, the introduction of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for the first time in the US caused an increase in Bitcoin’s worth, pushing it towards a historic peak of approximately $74,000 by March.
Regardless of recent market ups and downs that have moderated some growth, Bitcoin has shown a robust 38% rise in value during this year. Importantly, it was responsible for approximately 40% of the total crypto theft profits reported in 2024, according to Chainalysis’ assessment.
Over the past few months, the Asia-Pacific area has seen a surge of significant cyberattacks. For example, the hack on Japanese Bitcoin operator DMM resulted in a loss of $301 million due to an “unauthorized breach”, and India’s WazirX suffered a $235 million theft, both incidents exposing weaknesses within centralized cryptocurrency platforms.
CEXs Emerge As Prime Targets
Additionally, the report provided insights into organizations suspected of being connected to North Korea, known for their questionable activities involving high-value digital asset robberies. These groups are now employing more intricate social manipulation tactics to infiltrate digital asset systems. U.S. law enforcement has previously associated North Korea with large-scale cryptocurrency raids.
2022 saw a significant increase in crypto theft with approximately $3.7 billion being stolen, but this trend decreased in 2023 to around $1.7 billion. This drop can be attributed to the strengthening of security protocols on decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms and the stabilization of token prices.
It appears that recent findings indicate a resurgence in hacker interest towards traditional cryptocurrency exchanges, or CEXs. These platforms typically store significant amounts of crypto and might not possess the robust security measures found in their decentralized finance (DeFi) equivalents.
Currently, as I’m typing this, the combined value of all cryptocurrencies amounts to an impressive $2 trillion. Earlier in August, it had dipped down to $1.6 trillion. Interestingly, Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, is attempting to rebound and has reached close to $59,000 on Friday, following a weekly low of $56,100 on Thursday.
As an analyst, I’m observing that Ethereum (ETH), the dominant altcoin in the market, has experienced a growth of approximately 1.3% over the past day. At present, it’s trading slightly above its significant support level of $2,600, having touched a low of $2,500 on Thursday.
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2024-08-17 17:12