The crypto business skilled its second-lowest month-to-month losses this month, November 2024, with $71 million misplaced throughout 26 incidents, based on blockchain safety agency Immunefi.
This marked a major enchancment in comparison with November 2023, which recorded $343 million in losses, representing a 79% year-over-year drop and a 4% lower month-over-month.
Yr-to-date (YTD) figures present the business misplaced $1.48 billion in 2024 resulting from hacks and rug pulls in 209 incidents. This represents a 15% decline in comparison with the $1.7 billion misplaced throughout the identical interval in 2023.
November hacks
In keeping with Immunefi, two incidents accounted for many of November’s losses. DeFi mission Thala Labs misplaced $25.5 million, whereas the memecoins buying and selling terminal DEXX suffered a $21 million loss.
The agency famous that each one reported instances for the month concerned DeFi platforms, which surpassed centralized finance (CeFi) as the first goal. DeFi incidents accounted for 100% of the misplaced funds.
In the meantime, hacks remained the main explanation for losses, with $70.99 million misplaced throughout 24 hacking incidents. Rug pulls contributed a smaller quantity, with $25,300 misplaced in two instances.
Throughout chains, Binance-backed BNB Chain was essentially the most focused blockchain, chargeable for practically 47% of the full losses throughout all chains. It added:
“Ethereum skilled 9 incidents, representing 30% of the full. Solana, Polygon, Fantom, Avalanche, Arbitrum, and Aptos every skilled one incident, accounting for 3.3%, respectively.”
CEXs dominate 50% of 2024 crypto losses
Centralized exchanges (CEXs) have emerged as a major goal in 2024, accounting for nearly 50% of whole crypto-related losses year-to-date. Immunefi reported that CEX-related losses totaled $724 million, marking the very best share of assaults on centralized platforms since 2021.
The resurgence in CEX vulnerabilities grew to become significantly evident throughout the third quarter of the 12 months when 72% of crypto losses stemmed from CeFi hacks. For context, a single assault on Indian change WazirX in July resulted in a $235 million loss.
Immunefi highlighted that CeFi’s vulnerabilities usually stem from compromised scorching wallets, permitting attackers to empty substantial funds. The $724 million misplaced by CEXs in 2024 got here from simply 9 incidents, whereas the same quantity in DeFi was unfold throughout 200 assaults.
The safety agency identified that blackhat hackers have adopted progressive strategies to use centralized platforms.
These methods embody impersonating recruiters or securing pretend job placements to infiltrate inner groups and infrastructure. Such threats usually go undetected till vital injury happens, underscoring their rising sophistication.