In May, the crypto community suffered devastating losses from hackers, leading to the highest number of losses recorded so far in 2024. According to a report According to blockchain security firm Peckshield, hackers made $385 million in May, highlighting the sophistication of these bad actors and the continued need for effective security measures in the digital asset industry.
Crypto losses increased by 666% in May – Peckshield
According to Peckshield’s report, the crypto space saw around 30 hack cases in May 2024.
From these incidentss, the attack on the Japanese crypto exchange DMM Bitcoin on May 31 resulted in the loss of over 4,500 Bitcoins, valued at $305 million. This heist represented the biggest hack of the month and of 2024 so far. It is also the second largest cryptocurrency hack in Japan after the $533 million Coincheck heist in 2018.
#PeckShieldAlert In May 2024, around 30 hacks took place in the crypto space, resulting in around $574.6 million in losses, with around $385 million in profits for the hackers. This represents an increase of approximately 666% compared to April 2024.#Top 5 Tips:
–#DMMBitcoin: $305 million
–#GALAGames: 212 million dollars (the hackers… pic.twitter.com/2n5YUaw3OQ– PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) June 1, 2024
Another major hack involved the crypto gaming project Gala Games which suffered a major network breach on May 20, where malicious actors were able to mint 5 billion GALA tokens worth approximately $212 million. However, thanks to timely security measures, the Gala development team was able to mitigate the losses to around $22.4 million.
Other major hacks in May involved DeFi protocol Sonne Finance and a Coinbase account drainer, which resulted in the loss of $20 million and $18 million in assets, respectively. In total, $575 million was stolen by hackers, although bad actors only made a profit of $385 million after Gala Games’ impressive recovery.
Compared to April with total losses From $60 million, the figures reported in May represent a staggering 666% increase in assets stolen by attackers. Even more alarming, these figures indicate an increase of 2,300% compared to the Losses of $14.6 million in May 2023.
Undoubtedly, this sharp increase in hacking incidents and asset losses speaks to the continued need for more robust security measures for the digital asset space, especially as the new industry strives to be adopted by the general public on the global financial scene.
Crypto Market Overview
Furthermore, the cryptocurrency market remains relatively stable, with major assets experiencing minimal fluctuations over the past 24 hours. According to CoinMarketCap, the total crypto market cap saw a modest increase of 0.65% on Sunday, reaching $2.54 trillion.
Market leader Bitcoin is currently valued at $67,812, reflecting a slight gain of 0.11% over the past day. Likewise, other major tokens such as Ethereum and BNB saw slight gains, with daily gains of 0.31% and 0.35%, respectively.
Featured image from The Economic Times, chart from Tradingview
