Crypto Security Report: August Losses Down, but 2024 Total Surpasses $1.2 Billion

• Crypto losses in 2024 hit $1.2B, up 15.5%, despite August’s 95% drop in thefts.
• Ethereum and BNB Chain targeted, with BNB Chain suffering $1.64B in losses since 2017.
• Immunefi aids security, awarding $100M+ in bounties and launching Attackathon for Ethereum.

Seems the crypto market losses in 2024 are far from over. Over $1.2 billion has been stolen through various hacks and scams, according to the latest report by web3 security platform Immunefi . Even though losses dropped in August, the average for the year is still alarming, showing a 15.5% increase compared to the same period in 2023.

August did see a 95% decrease in month-over-month losses, with only $15.1 million lost compared to $274.7 million in July. This reduction, however, doesn’t make up for the year’s total losses, which have now surpassed $1.2 billion.

Among the August incidents, the biggest involved an outflow of $12 million to MEV bots from the Ronin Network bridge due to an upgrade bug. This outflow, however, was later returned by white hat hackers in exchange for a $500,000 bounty.

This incident stands out because Ronin’s bridge with Ethereum was previously attacked in March 2022, resulting in over $600 million in losses, the biggest DeFi exploit ever.

This report comes on the heels of a hacker stealing more than $230 million from WazirX , an Indian cryptocurrency exchange, over a month ago. This marks the second-largest crypto hack of 2024 so far.

Ethereum and BNB Chain continue to be the primary targets for hackers, accounting for all the losses reported in August. Ethereum experienced three attacks, while BNB Chain saw two incidents. 

Even with security measures, BNB Chain has become a target for rug pull scams and other illegal activities. Since its launch in 2017, the BNB Chain has seen $1.64 billion in theft.

Immunefi has awarded over $100 million to ethical hackers and researchers who find and report weaknesses across various protocols. Last month, Immunefi teamed up with the Ethereum Foundation to launch “ Attackathon ,” a large-scale audit contest to make the Ethereum network more secure.