Crypto enthusiasts frequently highlight the benefits of their technology over traditional financial institutions like brick-and-mortar banks, and it’s a story that has a lot of reality. But funds must be ensured to be secure if Web3 is to be widely adopted and for cryptocurrencies to be used in retail or stored as a store of value.
Crypto hacks and scams resulted in a loss of $685 million in Q3 of 2023, bringing the total losses for the year to $1.4 billion.
The majority of the losses occurred at the platform level rather than the personal wallet level.
Two projects, Mixin Network and Multichain, accounted for 47.5% of the Q3 losses.
DeFi was the main target of successful exploits at 72.9%, while CeFi accounted for 27.1% of total losses.
State-backed actors, such as Lazarus Group funded by North Korea, played a significant role in the attacks.
Crypto projects can improve security by conducting audits, implementing bug bounty programs, and maintaining continuous operational monitoring.