Over $3 billion stolen from crypto projects in 2022: Forbes

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Godfrey Benjamin

The crypto ecosystem has witnessed over 125 hacks and lost over $3 billion this year

The year 2022 can be considered one of the most notorious for the digital currency ecosystem, with Forbes confirming that over $3 billion has been lost to break-ins and exploitation. According to the report, the industry has seen a total of 125 hacks this year alone, and the top five protocols have seen a total of $1.48 billion moved by hackers.

The decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem represented the most attacked offshoot of the sector. DeFi hacks accounted for up to 49% of the overall total. The impacts of the hacks are untold and they have helped to reduce investments in the DeFi world, according to on-chain data.

According to DeFiLlama, the total value locked (TVL) in DeFi protocols has increased from over $166 billion at the start of the year, and it is currently pegged at $38.91 billion at the time of writing. Expert developers in the industry have continued to express their dissatisfaction with the way protocols, especially bridges, attract hackers.

In its story, Forbes recounted that the five biggest hacks of the year include the $625 million Ronin network hack, the $325 million WormHole network exploit, the $190 million Nomad bridge, the $182 million Beanstalk Farms breach and the $160 million Wintermute hack.

Hacks beyond DeFi

While DeFi saw the most hacks, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and crypto exchanges also saw a number of exploits throughout the year. One of the first victims of an exchange hack was Crypto.com, which lost up to $35 million in mid-January. The hack did not disrupt exchange operations, but signaled that no trading platform was invincible against hackers.

High-profile NFT projects including the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) have seen a number of attacks on their Discord platforms as hackers explored different strategies to scam investors.

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