The research team focused on instances where hackers exploited vulnerabilities in crypto protocols to siphon off funds, as well as cases where protocols were manipulated, ultimately leading to financial losses. In their investigation, analysts identified a total of 319 such incidents.
Among all the affected projects, two were hit the hardest: Mixin Network and the DeFi protocol Euler Finance, which accounted for nearly one-fifth of the total stolen funds.
Experts have attributed the theft of $308 million, making up 17% of the overall losses, to the Lazarus group, an organization with alleged ties to the North Korean government. It is believed that North Korea was also behind numerous attacks on cryptocurrency platforms such as Atomic Wallet, CoinEx, Alphapo, Stake, and CoinsPaid.
Remarkably, there were a significant number of instances where hackers actually returned stolen funds in 2023. In total, scammers returned $241 million, with a majority of the refunded amount going back to the infamous Euler Finance.
Based on their analysis, the researchers concluded that the amount of stolen funds in the cryptocurrency market has reduced by half compared to the previous year. In 2022, hackers and scammers managed to steal nearly $4 billion.
As the year came to a close, the South Korean cryptocurrency platform, Orbit Chain, fell victim to a cyber attack on New Year’s Eve. The hackers managed to make off with more than $81 million worth of crypto assets.