Cryptocurrency projects have endured their worst quarter in history in terms of losses and damage from hacking attacks, according to an Immunefi report.
In the first quarter of 2025, cybercriminals stole $1.64 billion across 40 incidents. This is 4.7 times more than the same period last year, when losses amounted to $348.3 million.
The main blow was dealt to the Bybit exchange, which in February lost $1.46 billion due to a hack. It is believed that the North Korean group Lazarus Group was behind the attack.
Decentralized platforms were also affected: 38 out of 40 attacks targeted DeFi projects. Despite this, total losses in the sector amounted to only $106.8 million, which is 69% less than a year ago. Among the affected were Infini, Abracadabra Finance, and zkLend.
Efforts to recover damages achieved only partial success: $6.5 million, or 0.4% of the stolen funds, were recovered. A year ago, this figure was 21.2%.
The BNB Chain network became the most attractive for attackers in the first quarter, experiencing 19 attacks. Ethereum ranked second with 15 incidents.
Immunefi noted that the majority of losses are concentrated on CEX, which remain the primary target for hackers.
The company continues to pay rewards for discovered vulnerabilities. Since its launch, Immunefi has paid researchers and white-hat hackers over $112 million, helping to save $25 billion in user funds.
Earlier, on March 21, hackers attacked the real-world asset (RWA) restaking protocol Zoth. The damage amounted to about $8.4 million in cryptocurrency.