December 2023 has skilled vital losses in cryptocurrency thefts, with the newest assault on Orbit Chain’s cross-chain bridge pushing the month’s whole losses near $100 million, in keeping with blockchain safety companies.
Blockchain safety agency PeckShield reported on Jan. 1 that the $81.5 million exploit of the Orbit Bridge was a serious contributor to December being the fifth-highest month for crypto hacks in 2023.
The exploit was additionally the ninth-highest hack concentrating on a cross-chain bridge over the previous three years, it mentioned.
Orbit Bridge, the bridging service of the cross-chain protocol Orbit Chain protocol launched in South Korea in 2018, confirmed the hack owing to a safety breach on Dec. 31 at 8:52 pm UTC, which resulted in substantial losses of assorted cryptocurrencies, together with Ethereum (ETH), USD Coin (USDC), Tether (USDT), and Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC).
Responding to this breach, Orbit Chain’s staff introduced on Jan. 1 their efforts to freeze the stolen property, working intently with world cryptocurrency exchanges and regulation enforcement businesses.
2023 witnesses over $1.5 billion misplaced to hackers
Estimates from blockchain safety companies like PeckShield, CertiK, and Beosin place the whole crypto losses as a result of hacks, scams, and exploits all through 2023 between $1.51 billion and $2 billion. Notably, 17% of these losses are attributed to the actions of the North Korean hacker group Lazarus.
PeckShield knowledge reveals that September and November have been significantly hit laborious, with losses exceeding $700 million in these two months. This consists of vital incidents just like the Mixin Community dropping $200 million in September and main exploits in November on Poloniex and HTX/Heco Bridge, resulting in losses of $131.4 million and $113.3 million, respectively.
2023 additionally noticed different notable hacks, comparable to Euler Finance dropping $197 million in March and Multichain struggling a $125 million hack in July.
Regardless of these high-profile incidents, blockchain safety agency Beosin highlighted a big decline in hacks, phishing scams, and rug pulls in comparison with 2022. Whole losses in 2023 have been down from roughly $4.38 billion within the earlier 12 months.
Hacks skilled probably the most vital discount, plummeting from $3.6 billion in 2022 to $1.39 billion in 2023, marking a lower of about 61.2%. This knowledge suggests a relative enchancment within the safety and vigilance throughout the crypto sector, at the same time as challenges persist.