For the past four years, the annual cumulative value of illicit activities in the crypto space – including hacks, frauds, scams, money laundering, and ransomware – has regularly exceeded $1-billion. And this hasn’t changed in 2024.
Although the total number of crypto heists has significantly dropped, crypto thieves have still stolen a jaw-dropping value of cryptos, proving this type of crime remains a significant challenge for law enforcement and regulators worldwide.
According to data presented byCryptoPresales.com, crypto criminals have stolen $1,63-billion year-to-date – only $100-million short compared to the total figure for 2023.
Despite regulatory efforts and advancements in blockchain tracking technology, crypto-related crime remains a lucrative industry. The high profitability and pseudonymity of digital coins have attracted a broad spectrum of criminals over the years, helping the total value of money flowing through criminal crypto transactions to hit shocking highs.
Last year, crypto scammers and hackers stole $1,75-billion worth of cryptos in 283 crypto heists – the highest number of crypto crimes the market has ever seen. However, 2024 is showing another worrying trend. While the total number of scams is falling, the amount of stolen cryptos remains high.
According to Comparitech data, hackers and scammers have conducted 164 crypto attacks year-to-date – or 42% less than last year. However, despite the significant decline, these attacks caused shocking damage to the crypto community. Statistics show crypto thieves have stolen $1,63-billion worth of cryptos year-to-date, or only $100-million short of last year’s total. Moreover, this is the fourth-largest figure in the crypto market`s history.
The Comparitech data also showed DeFi protocols suffered the most losses in 2024, proving that DeFi remains scammers` favourite playground. Statistics show DeFi attacks have made up half of all crypto heists year-to-date – and most of them happened due to flawed codes, where thieves use smart contract errors to steal money from protocols.
Although $1,63-billion stolen in crypto heists this year is far from the all-time highs of $2,7-billion and $3,5-billion reported in 2021 and 2022, this massive figure has still helped the cumulative damage of crypto heists to climb to shocking highs.
At the end of 2020, the cumulative amount of money stolen in crypto heists amounted to just over $3-billion. A year later, this figure practically doubled and hit over $5,7-billion, marking the beginning of a worrying trend. Despite regulatory efforts and huge advancements in blockchain tracking technology, the cumulative amount of money stolen in crypto heists has jumped by 122% in the past three years and hit over $12,6-billion last week.