The cryptocurrency industry experienced a significant decrease in losses from hacking incidents during the first quarter of this year. According to a March 28 research report by blockchain security firm Immunefi, losses decreased by 23.1% compared to the previous year, totaling approximately $336.3 million in Q1 of 2024.
Immunefi's research revealed that the cryptocurrency sector encountered 46 hacking incidents and 15 cases of fraudulent activities in the first quarter, resulting in losses exceeding $321 million. Decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms continue to be the main target for hackers, with all exploits in Q1 identified by Immunefi being directed towards DeFi platforms rather than centralized (CeFi) platforms.
Two major projects accounted for the majority of losses in Q1, amounting to $144.5 million, which is 43% of the total amount. The largest attack, targeting the cross-chain bridge protocol Orbit Bridge during New Year celebrations, resulted in losses of $81.7 million. January saw the highest monthly losses in Q1, totaling $133 million.
CEO of Immunefi, Mitchell Amador, emphasized the vulnerability of DeFi platforms to private key breaches and emphasized the need for enhanced security measures throughout the code and protocol infrastructure.
Alongside the decrease in the number of attacks from 74 in Q1 2023 to 61 in Q1 2024, $73.9 million (22%) of stolen funds from seven exploits were successfully retrieved. Hacks were the primary reason for losses in Q1, accounting for 95.6% of the total amount lost across 46 incidents. Ethereum was the most targeted chain, followed by BNB Chain, with both networks contributing to 73% of the total losses.
In conclusion, Ethereum faced the highest number of attacks, with 33 incidents, whereas BNB Chain experienced 12 attacks. Other incidents occurred on various networks including Arbitrum, Solana, Optimism, Bitcoin, Blast, Polygon, Conflux Network, and Base.
