Losses from cryptocurrency hacks see a significant decline in June

Data provided by the cryptocurrency analytics company, PeckShield, reveals that approximately 20 hacking incidents occurred in the cryptocurrency sector in June, resulting in a net loss of nearly $176 million. This marks a substantial decrease of 54.2% compared to the previous month, where hackers absconded with $385 million.

The largest hack in June was the BtcTurk crypto exchange exploit, where hackers managed to secure over $100 million in crypto assets, as reported by PeckShield.

ZachXBT, an onchain investigator, estimated the losses to be around $55 million. Following BtcTurk, the second-largest exploit targeted Lykke, another centralized exchange, leading to $22 million in losses. The DeFi lending protocol, UwU Lend, experienced the third-largest exploit, resulting in a $19.4 million loss.

In June's top 5 hacks, two centralized exchanges faced the highest losses, while three decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols were also affected.

Centralized Exchanges Lead in Exploits in the Current Quarter

The month of May 2024 marked the highest losses in the cryptocurrency sector, with nearly $385 million lost to hacks. The most significant individual loss was from the private key hack of the crypto exchange DMM on May 31, which drained $305 million worth of Bitcoin from the platform.

February recorded a net loss of $360 million, whereas April witnessed the lowest number of hacks and losses at $60.19 million.

Despite the decrease in net losses from exploits in June, the second quarter of 2024 saw a 115% increase in losses compared to the same period in 2023. From just $220 million in Q2 of 2023, the losses surged to over $572 million this year.

The majority of the quarter's losses were attributed to hacks on centralized exchanges. In this quarter alone, losses resulting from centralized protocols and exchange exploits reached $401 million, accounting for 70% of the total.

Although losses from centralized exchanges were higher this quarter, data indicates that only a small fraction of attacks on these exchanges were successful. Centralized platforms were exploited only five times in this quarter, whereas decentralized protocols faced a total of 62 successful exploits.