Hackers and crypto scammers have more incentive to carry out crimes as the price of cryptocurrencies rise [File]
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

The volume of stolen crypto funds and the number of hacking incidents has risen in 2024, according to a report by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.

According to the report, stolen crypto funds spiked by approximately 21.07% year-over-year (YoY) to reach a volume of $2.2 billion. Meanwhile, the number of individual hacking incidents went up from 282 incidents in 2023 to 303 incidents in 2024.

Chainalysis in its report noted a tendency this year for hackers to also target centralised services such as cryptocurrency exchanges

“Although DeFi still accounted for the largest share of stolen assets in the first quarter of 2024, centralized services were the most targeted in Q2 and Q3. Some of the most notable centralized service hacks include DMM Bitcoin (May 2024; $305 million) and WazirX (July 2024; $234.9 million),” said Chainalysis in its report.

The WazirX hack in July this year led to huge losses for the Indian crypto exchange, which responded by stopping users from withdrawing their remaining crypto and is currently pushing for restructuring in Singapore.

In addition to this, the Chainalysis report noted the continued activity from North Korean hackers who often try to steal crypto in an effort to evade sanctions.

“In 2023, North Korea-affiliated hackers stole approximately $660.50 million across 20 incidents; in 2024, this number increased to $1.34 billion stolen across 47 incidents — a 102.88% increase in value stolen. These figures represent 61% of the total amount stolen for the year, and 20% of total incidents,” said Chainalysis.

However, the firm theorised that a summit meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean regime leader Kim Jong Un could have led to a fall in the amounts stolen by the DPRK.

Chainalysis highlighted in its report that both decentralised and centralised service providers had to invest in security in order to safeguard their users’ funds as crypto adoption grows world over.