Meme Coin Boom Draws Scammers to Solana Network, Hacken Reports

The Web3 market’s cumulative losses for 2024 have exceeded $2.9 billion, encompassing damages to DeFi, CeFi platforms, gaming, and metaverses. In 78% of cases, access control vulnerabilities were the cause of breaches, according to a report by Hacken.

Analysts noted that losses in the DeFi segment decreased by 40% compared to the previous year—from $787 million to $474 million. The largest breach was the $55 million hack of Radiant Capital.

Meanwhile, CeFi losses more than doubled to $694 million. Notable incidents included the compromise of private keys at DMM Exchange ($305 million in damages) and the exploitation of a multisig vulnerability at WazirX ($230 million).

There was also a sharp decline in attacks on cross-chain protocols, resulting in a 70% reduction in losses—from $338 million in 2023 to $114 million in 2024.

Losses in gaming projects and metaverses totaled $389 million, accounting for 18% of all incidents in the crypto market.

Phishing enabled attackers to steal $600 million.

Rug pull schemes remain prevalent, but scammers have shifted from the BNB Chain to the Solana blockchain, primarily due to the growing popularity of meme coins.

One significant trend this year has been pre-sale scams. According to on-chain detective ZachXBT, 27 such incidents in April 2024 alone netted hackers over $122.5 million.

In promoting meme tokens, scammers frequently used the names of public figures and influencers.

“The prevalence of meme and celebrity scams highlights the evolving nature of crypto fraud. New tactics leverage social influence and the accessibility of blockchain tools for Web3 users,” concluded Hacken analysts.

According to Chainalysis, North Korean hackers stole at least $1.34 billion in crypto assets in 2024.