The crypto industry witnessed significant setbacks in September 2024 as a wave of hacks swept through the space, leading to more than $120 million in losses.
According to report by a prominent blockchain security company Peckshield Alerts, over 20 hacks were recorded during the month, affecting multiple platforms.
Peckshield shared detailed insights on the major hacks that contributed to the substantial losses. The total amount lost, while down by 61.76% from August, still marked a major blow to the industry. In August, losses had reached over $300 million.
Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 15 (Sept 9 – Dec 7, 2024) has started registrations; register today for early bird discounts.
Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass opens registrations here.
Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and invest in Africa’s finest startups here.
Top Hacks of September 2024
On X (formerly Twitter), Peckshield reported the largest hacks of the month, including the following platforms;
1. BingX: A Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange, BingX suffered the largest loss, with over $44 million stolen.
2. Penpie: This platform experienced a breach resulting in $27 million in losses.
3. Indodax: The Indonesian exchange lost over $21 million to hackers.
Other notable platforms that fell victim to hacking incidents included:
- DeltaPrime: $5.98 million stolen
- Truflation: $5.6 million in losses
- Shezmu: $4.9 million stolen (partial funds were returned)
- Onyx: $3.8 million stolen
- BananaGun: $3 million in losses
- Bedrock: $1.75 million stolen
- CUT: $1.4 million lost
While the aforementioned platforms were heavily impacted, the report excluded the $32.4 million loss from a phishing attack involving a stolen permit signature on SspWETH. However, despite the hacks recorded in September, compared to that which occurred in the previous month August, last month saw a notable decrease in the total value lost to hacks which fell by over 60%.
Despite the dip in September, the third quarter of 2024 still saw significant losses, with a total of $413 million lost to hackers. August was particularly challenging for the crypto space, as over $300 million was stolen across 10 major events. An analysis by Immunefi, another blockchain security platform, highlighted that centralized finance (CeFi) platforms bore the brunt of these attacks. According to their data, CeFi accounted for nearly 75% of the total exploits, while decentralized finance (DeFi) represented 25.2% of the total losses.
However, the number of crypto hacks witnessed this year has continued to skyrocket raising concerns in the industry. Recall that Peckshield in July 2024, posted that over 200+ major hacks were recorded in the crypto space in the first half (HI), resulting in ~$ 1.56 billion in losses, with $319m recovered.
This marked a significant 293% increase from the same period in 2023 while losses amounted to $480m. DeFi protocols remained primary targets, accounting for 59% of the total stolen value. During 2024 H1, 20+ public chains experienced major hacks, with the Top 3 cryptos by the amount lost being Ethereum, Bitcoin, & XRP. Both Ethereum & BNBChain led with 31.3% of the total number of hacks, closely followed by Arbitrum at 12.5%.
As the crypto industry continues to expand, the rise in hacking incidents poses a substantial threat. The $120 million lost in September serves as a stark reminder of the importance of robust security measures across both centralized and decentralized platforms. With over $400 million lost in the third quarter of 2024 alone, the crypto sector faces growing pressure to prioritize cybersecurity to safeguard digital assets.