After the end of 2022, an extremely challenging year, the start of 2023 looked highly positive, given the bullish crypto market that persisted through January. Now, there are some more good stats from the month as well.
Data reveals that January this year witnessed a steep decline in losses from exploits compared to the figures from the past year.
As per data released by PeckShield, a blockchain security firm, on Tuesday, there were $8.8 million in losses from crypto exploits in the month. There were 24 exploits over the month, with $2.6 million worth of crypto being sent to mixers like Tornado Cash.
The breakdown of assets sent to mixers was 1,200 Ethereum and around 2,668 BNB. Reportedly, the figures from last month were about 92.7% lower than the $121.4 million lost to exploits in January previous year.
As per the figures, the largest exploit from last month, representing about 68% of the total, was an attack on January 12. It was an attack against LendHub, a decentralized finance lending and borrowing platform draining about $6 million. Other major attacks in the month included one on Thoreum Finance, which lost $580,000, and Midas Capital, which was exploited for $65,000 in a flash loan attack.
DeFiYield’s Rekt database shows that some losses not included in the data are a $2.6 million rug pull on the FCS BNB Chain token. It also reported that $150,000 were lost to fake BONK tokens and a $200,000 rug pull on the Doglands Metaverse gaming platform. A phishing attack on the GMX decentralized trading protocol on January 4 also resulted in a victim losing as much as $4 million.
PeckShield says the figures from the last month were about 68% down from December last year, which saw almost $27.3 million in losses in exploits. Interestingly, specific reports had stated that the $62 million in crypto stolen in December was the “lowest monthly figure” for 2022.
As of the end of last year, the ten largest exploits of 2022 resulted in a whopping $2.1 billion stolen from crypto protocols.
Despite the low figures for the first month of 2023, Todayq News reported a report featuring executives of blockchain security firms stating that DeFi investors should brace themselves for another sizable year of attacks and exploits as new projects hit the market and hackers advance in skill.