Crypto projects lost more than $320 million to hacks in the quarter

In the first three months of 2023, blockchain projects lost more than $320 million to hacks and fraud. Cointelegraph, citing a CertiK report.

Losses were significantly lower than in the first and fourth quarters of 2022, when hackers stole $1.3 billion and $950 million, respectively.

Analysts say the relatively modest level of losses may reflect external factors affecting the crypto industry as a whole, including the recent collapses of Silvergate Bank, Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank.

During the period, more than $31 million was lost in 90 cases of exit scams and about $222 million in 52 exploits using flash loans.

The most-targeted network was BNB Chain, with 139 incidents detected. Ethereum saw the largest losses, totaling $221.8 million.

Analysts noted that 60% of the total theft amount was attributed to the DeFi protocol Euler Finance. On March 13, a hacker withdrew more than $196 million in cryptocurrencies from the network. However, later the hacker returned 90% of the stolen funds.

In April, an unknown attacker stole about $1 million in digital assets from the Sentiment DeFi liquidity protocol. The next day, $870,000 was returned.