Criminals Steal Billions From Crypto Firms in 2022 – Chainalysis Reports

According to a recent report from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, 2022 was the worst year for cryptocurrency-related hacking, with criminals taking $3.8 billion from crypto companies. The agency revealed that hackers were responsible for 82.1% of crypto thefts throughout the year, mostly through protocol hacks.

Record Crypto Thefts in 2022

Chainalysis released its 2023 Crypto Crime Report on Wednesday, which stated:

2022 was the biggest year ever for crypto-hacking. $3.8 billion was stolen from cryptocurrency companies.

The agency noted that the number of cryptocurrency thefts surged in March and peaked in October, which “became the biggest month ever for cryptocurrency hacks, as $775.7 was stolen in 32 separate attacks.”

The agency added that hackers stole a total of $3.1 billion in crypto, which is equivalent to 82.1% of all stolen cryptocurrencies. Most of these thefts were from decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, which is an increase from the 73.3% in 2021. Chainalysis noted that 64% of the $3.1 billion came from cross-chain bridge protocols.

Chainalysis also provided more details about the hackers, stating:

In 2022: North Korea-linked hackers broke their own theft record and stole an estimated $1.7 billion worth of cryptocurrency through a variety of attacks that we now know they committed.

The agency indicated that North Korea-linked hackers stole $1.1 billion from DeFi protocols, which is a major factor behind the increase in DeFi hacking in 2022. In addition to DeFi protocols, Chainalysis noted that these hackers also sent large amounts of money to mixers, which have typically been used for money laundering.

Chainalysis further revealed that “for much of 2021 and 2022, North Korea-linked hackers almost exclusively used Tornado Cash to launder cryptocurrency stolen in hacks.” The Ethereum mixer Tornado Cash was sanctioned by the US authorities in August last year.

Do you have any information about the hackers that stole $3.8 billion from cryptocurrency companies last year? Let us know in the comments below.

kevin helms

Kevin is an Austrian Economics student who discovered Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection of cryptography and economics.