In December 2024, reports from blockchain security firms indicate a noteworthy decline in cryptocurrency theft and fraudulent activities, resulting in the lowest recorded monthly losses for the year at approximately $29 million. This drop in losses follows a troubling trend of rising incidents, which reached a peak in October. The November losses were significant at $63.8 million, while October saw staggering losses of $115.8 million. The major contributing factors to December’s losses included various exploits, scams, and hacks.
Notably, two major incidents stood out during this month. One was an exploit on GemPad, a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform, where a security vulnerability in its smart contracts led to the loss of around $2.1 million. In another case, a defect in FEG’s cross-chain message verification process resulted in a theft of approximately $1 million; this error allowed attackers to withdraw tokens without appropriate checks.
Data from the blockchain security firms CertiK and PeckShield highlighted this downward trend in losses, with CertiK reporting approximately $28.6 million in total losses for December—a significant drop compared to previous months. PeckShield confirmed a similar finding, estimating total hack-related losses at $24.7 million for the month, indicating a 71% decrease from November.
In terms of specific incidents, PeckShield noted that LastPass users became victims of a hack resulting in $12.38 million lost due to a data breach from the previous year. Other notable losses included approximately $2.2 million from Yeifinance and another $2.2 million from GemPad, demonstrating the pervasive nature of vulnerabilities across various platforms.
Despite the apparent improvement in December, the overall trend for the year shows a rise in the total theft within the cryptocurrency space. A Web3 Security Report by Cyvers revealed staggering statistics for 2024, indicating that $2.3 billion was stolen across 165 incidents, marking a 40% increase compared to the $1.69 billion lost in 2023. This was a significant reduction from the $3.78 billion stolen in 2022, suggesting that while December’s losses were lower, the issue of cryptocurrency theft remains a significant concern for the broader market.
The decline in losses during December, coupled with the trends observed over the year, reflects the ongoing battle between security improvements in the cryptocurrency space and the evolving tactics of malicious actors. As systems and awareness improve, there may be hope for a continued decline in incidents in the future; however, the challenge remains an uphill battle, with new vulnerabilities and exploitation methods constantly emerging. Security measures and user awareness will be key in combating these ongoing threats in the ever-changing landscape of digital assets.