A report from Chainalysis showed that over $3.8 billion was stolen from the crypto market in 2022, with 45% of the losses traced to North Korean hackers.
The two peak periods for crypto theft were March and October with 55 separate hacks totalling $1.4 billion. North Korean hacker group Lazarus was responsible for $1.7 billion of the losses, making it their highest year-on-year record.
DeFi was the hardest hit sector, losing $3.1 billion, 82.1% of all crypto losses in 2022. Hackers targeted cross-chain bridge protocols, with Sinbad, a new protocol similar to Tornado Cash, becoming the latest target after the US government’s crackdown on Tornado Cash.
Lack of security is becoming a weakness in the crypto market, and Chainalysis proposed solutions such as security testing, external auditing, and circuit breaker features.
