Crypto Industry Faces $336 Million Loss from Hacks and Scams

The cryptocurrency industry suffered losses of approximately $336.3 million due to hacking and fraud in the first three months of 2024, according to an Immunefi report covering 61 incidents.

The number of attacks decreased by 17.6% compared to the same period in 2023, with losses also down by 23%.

Researchers identified the largest breach as the $81.7 million exploit of the cross-chain bridge Orbit Bridge. The second largest was the $62.8 million theft from the Web3 platform Munchables, although the hacker returned all stolen funds.

In total, $73.9 million—22% of the total damage—was recovered through seven incidents involving white-hat hackers.

“While the reduction in overall losses is a positive development, it is important to note that DeFi faced significant challenges, accounting for 100% of all losses in the first quarter of 2024,” said Immunefi founder and CEO Mitchell Amador.

Hacker attacks were predominant in the first quarter, with 46 incidents leading to losses of $321.6 million (95.6%). Approximately $14.7 million was stolen in 15 recorded fraud incidents.

Ethereum was the most targeted blockchain, accounting for 51% of hacks and scams, followed by the BNB Chain at 22%.

For the year 2023, Immunefi estimated the industry’s losses from hackers and fraudsters at $1.8 billion. PeckShield reported a different figure—$2.61 billion.

Recent Breaches

An Imposter Among Us

PeckShield analysts discovered a fake token mimicking the native coin of the DeFi protocol Ethena Labs (ENA).

#PeckShieldAlert $ENA (Ethena Labs) on #BNBChain has been exploited, resulting in a loss of 480 $BNB (worth ~$290K)

*Note*: The token shares the same name as the legitimate ones

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) March 29, 2024

According to researchers, the perpetrator managed to steal about 480 BNB, valued at $290,000. The criminal exploited the hype surrounding the token’s airdrop and its launch on Binance Launchpool.

Introducing @ethena_labs $ENA on #Binance Launchpool!

Farm $ENA by staking #BNB and $FDUSD.

➡️ https://t.co/1VIrENbi2v pic.twitter.com/ZHiJ5eYCwc

— Binance (@binance) March 29, 2024

Initially, PeckShield mistook this fake ENA token for the real one, causing confusion in the community. Crypto media Cointelegraph also repeated this error, which some users pointed out.

Hey @Cointelegraph, your employees are really noobs in crypto.

They wrote an article titled Ethena Labs Exploited On Binance Launchpool ??

How can someone exploit tokens from Binance Launchpool?

The Ethena project isn’t even live on the Binance Chain, and the $ENA token isn’t… pic.twitter.com/atZ8TdKESy

— Vasu Crypto (∎, ∆) (@0x_Lens) March 29, 2024

“How can someone exploit tokens on Binance Launchpool? The Ethena project isn’t even live on the BNB Chain, and the ENA token isn’t officially listed anywhere yet,” wrote 0x_Lens.

Later, both sources corrected their publications, clarifying the details.

Prisma Fund Movements

The hacker who attacked the liquid staking platform Prisma Finance for $11.6 million did not join the 22% of white-hat hackers and began moving the stolen assets.

On March 28, the perpetrator withdrew 3257.7 ETH through manipulations with mkUSD tokens and wrapped ether. The platform’s team announced the suspension of the protocol and the start of an investigation.

We are aware of a possible exploit on Prisma.

Core engineering contributors will pause the protocol and investigate.

We’ll share an update and a post-mortem.

— Prisma Finance (@PrismaFi) March 28, 2024

On March 29, PeckShield analysts recorded that the hacker sent 200 ETH, worth $707,000, to the crypto mixer Tornado Cash.

#PeckShieldAlert The @PrismaFi exploiter labeled address 0x57f7 has just transferred another ~800 $ETH to #TornadoCash pic.twitter.com/J0KxxVTuNC

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) March 29, 2024

Subsequently, the perpetrator sent another 800 ETH (~$2.83 million) to the cryptocurrency cleansing service.

Back in February, FixedFloat was hacked, resulting in losses of at least $26 million.