In the month of August 2023, the crypto space witnessed a disturbing trend as malicious actors targeted digital assets, resulting in losses exceeding $45 million, as reported by CertiK, a blockchain security firm.
This adds to the year-to-date (YTD) total of $997 million in losses due to crypto-related incidents.
CertiK’s report sheds light on the breakdown of these losses, attributing $26 million to exit scams, $6.4 million to flash loan attacks, and $13.5 million to various exploits during August.
These combined attacks confirmed an overall loss exceeding $45 million, underscoring the vulnerability of the crypto landscape.
Several significant incidents stand out among the contributors to this substantial amount of loss.
The attack on the Zunami Protocol resulted in losses of $2.2 million, while the Exactly Protocol exploit took a toll of $7.3 million.
Additionally, the PEPE withdrawal incident inflicted a staggering $13.2 million in losses, revealing the multifaceted nature of threats facing the crypto community.
Throughout 2023, CertiK’s data reveals a disturbing upward trajectory in losses attributed to exploits, hacks, and scams.
This year alone, the accumulated losses exceed $997 million. Among these losses, flash loan attacks accounted for approximately $261 million, exit scams amounted to over $137 million, and exploits constituted a staggering $596 million.
Despite the grim statistics, it is noteworthy that the losses in August exhibited a relative decrease when compared to the previous month. In July 2023, Web3 data outlet De.Fi recorded a total loss of approximately $486 million.
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The Multichain exploit, a significant contributor, alone accounted for around $231 million of this total. Following these unfortunate events, Multichain made the difficult decision to halt its operations on July 14 due to a lack of operational funds and alternative sources of information.
The company cited the inability to communicate with its CEO, who had been detained by Chinese authorities, as a significant impediment to its operations.
In summary, the crypto space faced substantial losses of more than $45 million in August 2023 due to malicious activities, contributing to a year-to-date total of over $997 million in losses.
Despite a slight decline from the previous month, these losses underscore the pressing need for enhanced security measures within the crypto industry to protect against a range of threats, including exit scams, flash loan attacks, and exploits.
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