January was a wild ride for the crypto market! But here’s the real cool part: the losses from exploits have taken a nosedive compared to last year. According to PeckShield, a blockchain security firm, January saw only $8.8 million in losses from crypto exploits – that’s a 92.7% drop from the $121.4 million lost in January 2022.
So, what were the hot topics of the month? A total of 24 exploits took place, with a whopping $2.6 million worth of crypto being sent to mixers like Tornado Cash. This included 1,200 Ether and around 2,668 BNB coins.
Some Other NoteWorthy Exploits!
But, one of the most noteworthy ones was on DeFi lending and borrowing platform LendHub. It lost a whopping $6 million on Jan. 12, making up 68% of the total losses in January. Other exploits included Thoreum Finance losing $580,000 and Midas Capital being exploited for $650,000 in a flash loan attack.
#PeckShieldAlert ~24 exploits grabbed $8.8M in January 2023.
As of January 31st, 2023, ~$2.6M worth of stolen funds (~2,668 $BNB & 1,200 $ETH) were transferred into Mixers (TornadoCash, Fixedfloat, and sideshift[.]ai). pic.twitter.com/KlGmDmKFbI— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) January 31, 2023
Even though January was relatively calm compared to December 2022 which saw $27.3 million in losses, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. DeFiYield’s Rekt database reported a $2.6 million rug pull on the FCS BNB Chain token and a $200,000 rug pull on the Doglands Metaverse gaming platform. A phishing attack on the GMX decentralized trading protocol resulted in a victim losing as much as $4 million.
But despite the relatively quiet month, blockchain security company CertiK has warned us not to get too comfortable, as they predict more attacks and exploits this year. And just to add some more salt to the wound, the $62 million in crypto stolen in December was the lowest monthly figure of 2022. The ten largest exploits of 2022 resulted in a heart-wrenching $2.1 billion being stolen from crypto protocols.
