Crypto investors lost nearly $2b over 600+ incidents in 2023, data shows

Analysts at blockchain forensic firm PeckShield say the crypto industry witnessed over 600 hack incidents over the past year.

In an X post on Jan. 29, PeckShield released an infographic highlighting the extensive scale of hacker attacks targeting the crypto sector in 2023. According to their data, crypto investors faced losses amounting to $2.6 billion due to illicit activities, with a recovery of nearly $675 million.

PeckShield’s findings reveal that investors suffered losses of over $1.5 billion from hacks and an additional $1.1 billion from scam schemes, reflecting a 27.78% decrease compared to 2022. Despite this decline in percentage, decentralized finance remains a primary target for malicious actors, constituting 67% of the total stolen value, according to PeckShield.

The Mixin Network hack stands out as the largest incident in terms of stolen funds, resulting in a loss of around $200 million in crypto, followed closely by Euler Labs whose losses totalled $197 million and Poloniex, who accrued $125 million in hack losses.

In total, illicit addresses received over $24 billion worth of crypto in 2023, showing a decrease from the estimated $39.6 billion in 2022, as per Chainalysis. The landscape of crypto crime saw a shift in the types of assets involved. While Bitcoin (BTC) previously dominated, stablecoins now constitute the majority of illicit transaction volume, data shows. Chainalysis says the change aligns with the broader trend of stablecoins gaining prominence in legitimate crypto activities.