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In the crypto market, the first quarter of 2022 has been a roller coaster of both positive and negative developments. When compared to previous years' first quarters, crypto hacks are at an all-time high this year, with 77 occurrences documented.
In the first quarter of 2022, hackers stole almost $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency
Over $1,282,614,945.38 in cryptocurrency has been lost to criminals since January. Last year, the business lost $9.8 billion to crypto hackers. These stats are based on information supplied by SlowMist Hacked, which keeps track of reported crypto breaches.
During this time, the Ethereum blockchain ecosystem has taken the brunt of the damage. The second-largest blockchain network's protocols lost about $635,885,223 million as a result of 18 attack occurrences. The Axie Infinity Ronin network hack, revealed this week, was the largest, totaling approximately $635 million. In Q1 2022, hacks accounted for about 99 percent of total losses in the Ethereum ecosystem and more than 50 percent for the global blockchain sector.
With almost $388 million lost in four hack events, the Solana network came in second on the rankings. Wormhole, a cross-bridge between Solana and Ethereum, took the most damage. The exploit resulted in hackers stealing approximately 120,000 Wormhole-wrapped Ether on the Solana blockchain, which was valued approximately $334 million at the time.
The BNB Smart Chain (BSC) also experienced its fair share of incidents, with 14 hacks totaling $99.7 million stolen. Meanwhile, NFT projects had the highest number of occurrences observed. SlowMist recorded 21 total reported NFT compromise cases, totaling over $47 million in losses.
Observers have been advocating for protocols to embrace best development practices in response to the recent incidence of criminality in the nascent business. Similarly, consumers have been urged to be more cautious with their money.
According to William S, a cybersecurity researcher and publisher at Atlas VPN:
"Security of blockchain projects should be one of the key concerns for anyone considering to invest in bitcoin." The majority of blockchain-related hacking incidents occur as a result of cybercriminals exploiting defects in the project code."
Experts' reactions on the growth in crypto hackers
The rise in criminal activity has coincided with the increased popularity and use of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. The crypto market has attained a capitalization of $2.27 trillion as a result of an industry-wide bull run.
However, the industry is continuing to take steps to both prevent and catch crypto hackers. Protocols allow the community to participate in bounty hunts in order to receive prizes for identifying potential defects in their coding. This has aided in the avoidance of various hacks, particularly in the case of OpenSea and, more recently, MinSwap, a Cardano-based DEX.
Similarly, the space continues to collaborate with law enforcement, and crypto security watchdogs such as Chainalysis and Messari have been dedicated to these efforts.
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