A Relatively Calm December for the Crypto World: Only $62M Stolen
- December saw fewer major cryptocurrency attacks than November, resulting in $62.2 million in stolen funds.
- The largest attacks were the $15 million Helio Protocol incident and the $12.9 million exploit of Defrost Finance’s protocols.
- The overall number of hacks this year has been on an upward trend.
December Sees Fewer Major Attacks Than the Rest of 2022
According to blockchain security company CertiK, December saw the fewest number of major cryptocurrency attacks in 2022. There were a total of 23 incidents resulting in $62.2 million in stolen funds in the final month of the year. Both these figures represent a drop from November, when 36 major attacks resulted in $595 million stolen. The December figure is also the lowest monthly total for the year.
Methods of Attack: Exit Scams Lead the Way
Exit scams were the most common method of attack in December, with $15.5 million worth of cryptocurrency stolen.
In an exit scam, a malicious actor creates a fraudulent investment opportunity and persuades individuals to invest in it. The actor disappears with the invested funds, leaving the individuals with nothing.
Flash loan-based exploits following behind at $7.6 million. In a flash loan attack, an attacker borrows a large amount of cryptocurrency from a protocol or exchange for a short period, typically just a few seconds. The attacker then uses the borrowed funds to manipulate the market somehow by…
