Cryptocurrency hackers and scammers stole $452 million in the first quarter of 2023, according to a report published by antivirus and app provider De.Fi. But that's both good news and bad news, as losses are down from $1.3 billion in the first quarter of 2022. However, recovery rates are also declining.
Nearly half of the quarter's losses ($215 million) occurred in the first three weeks of March, the report said. The Euler Finance and Bonq DAO exploits were the loss leaders for the quarter, with $196 million and $120 million, respectively. In dollar terms, the ethereum blockchain suffered the most as a result of these vulnerabilities, although Binance outpaced it by the number of incidents 18 to 10. It was followed by the CoinDeal scheme, which lost $45 million, followed by the Monkey Drainer phishing scammers, who lost $16.5 million.
Of the 49 cases examined in the report, the six flash loan attacks caused the largest losses, with losses exceeding $200 million, with Euler Finance accounting for the bulk of the total losses. Smart contract exploits were the most common type among the 17 incidents. Decentralized finance (DeFi) accounted for just five incidents, but lost the most at $336 million. In the first quarter, $130 million was recovered from these breaches. All of that money was recovered in March, with $129 million returned by the Euler Finance hack. In the first quarter of 2022, $520 million of the $1.3 billion lost has been returned, accounting for 40% of the stolen funds, compared with 28.7% this year.
While DeFi dominated the reported losses, losses on decentralized exchanges and crypto and non-fungible tokens could also affect retail users. Theft is not uncommon for retail users and the scams are constantly evolving.
