Key Takeaways
- There’s been a 131% surge in crypto losses compared to the same period in 2024
- Losses in January stood at $87 million before surging to $1.53 billion in February, largely due to the Bybit attack
The first quarter of 2025 has recorded the highest crypto-related losses in history, with security breaches amounting to over $1.6 billion. As per blockchain security firm PeckShield, there’s been a 131% surge in crypto losses compared to the same period in 2024.
A single exploit on centralized exchange Bybit was responsible for the majority of losses, with hackers stealing $1.46 billion, which accounted for over 92% of total Q1 losses. Another major incident involved Phemex, which suffered a $69.1 million attack, bringing the combined total from these two breaches to $1.52 billion.
According to analysts at Immunefi, “The sheer scale of the Bybit and Phemex attacks, totaling $1.5 billion, shows how state-backed actors are arguably the most pressing threat to our industry. Their success in breaching renowned, battle-tested platforms is a reminder of the need for security measures that protect the entire stack and help projects prevent catastrophic attacks before they happen.”
PeckShield’s findings also marked a notable rise in hacking incidents, with over 60 breaches recorded in Q1 2025. Losses in January stood at $87 million before surging to $1.53 billion in February, largely due to the Bybit attack. Additional February breaches led to $126 million in losses, including a $50-million exploit at Infini, a $9.5-million hack on zkLend, and an $8.5-million loss from Ionic.
March, however, saw a drastic reduction in hack-related losses, with only $33 million stolen, a 97% decline from February. Some stolen funds were even recovered, providing minor relief to affected platforms.
One of the largest March incidents was a $13-million exploit on decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Abracadabra.Money, where an attacker siphoned 6,260 Ether (ETH) on March 25. Another major attack targeted the real-world asset (RWA) restaking protocol Zoth, resulting in an $8.4-million loss after the stolen funds were converted into stablecoins and transferred to another address.
Despite these substantial losses, some stolen funds were voluntarily returned. On March 7, a hacker who had stolen $5 million from decentralized exchange 1inch returned 90% of the funds after the platform offered a 10% bounty, equivalent to $500,000. This incident highlights a growing trend where some attackers negotiate partial returns in exchange for a share of the stolen assets.
Centralized exchanges bore the brunt of the attacks, accounting for 94% of total losses in Q1, while DeFi platforms experienced only 6% of breaches. Binance’s BNB Chain (formerly Binance Smart Chain) was the most targeted blockchain, suffering 19 separate incidents, followed by Ethereum with 15.
Crypto-related hacks have become increasingly common in recent years. The industry faced $3 billion in losses in 2024, a 15% rise from $2.61 billion in 2023.
