Stolen Crypto Total Hits $3B as Hackers Reemerge After Quiet Summer: Chainalysis

Hackers have outdone themselves.

With four new exploits reported on Tuesday, $718 million has now been stolen across 11 different DeFi protocols, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.

After only two weeks, that means October has become the biggest month this year for hacker exploits.

That brings the running tally for the year to $3 billion across 125 different hacks, according to Chainalysis, and puts 2022 on track to outdo the all-time high of $3.2 billion for stolen crypto funds set last year.

The latest hacks include $100 million stolen from Mango Markets, a Solana DeFi trading platform; a $1 million exploit stolen from the bridge that connects QANplatform to the Ethereum network; and a $2.3 million hack worth of tokens stolen from TempleDAO.

An exploit was also identified in Rabby Wallet, an Ethereum wallet service, on Tuesday. The full scope of the exploit hasn't been disclosed yet, but the project's team said on Twitter this morning that they have "requested a negotiation with the hacker."

DeFi hacks take turn for the worse in 2022

It hasn't always looked like 2022 would be a big year for crypto thieves.

There was a flurry of activity at the start of the year when criminals stole $1.7 billion—most of it coming from DeFi—in the first five months of the year.

But activity dropped off as the market reacted to the TerraUSD collapse and the bankruptcies of Three Arrows Capital, Voyager Digital, and Celsius.

13 Biggest DeFi Hacks and Heists

Decentralized finance (DeFi) refers to blockchain applications that cut out middlemen from financial products and services like loans, savings, and swaps. While DeFi comes with high rewards, it also carries plenty of risks.  Since just about anyone can spin up a DeFi protocol and write some smart contracts, flaws in the code are common. And in DeFi, there are many unscrupulous actors ready and able to exploit those flaws. When that happens, millions of dollars are put on the line, often with no...

In August, Chainalysis published an update to say that illicit activity had fallen by 15% in volume as most forms of "cryptocurrency-based crime" were down with the rest of the market.

But the activity has picked back up in a big way.

"Cross-chain bridges remain a major target for hackers," Chainalysis wrote on Twitter, "with three bridges breached this month and nearly $600 million stolen, accounting for 82% of losses this month and 64% of losses all year."