Crystal Blockchain, a globally distributed team of world-class blockchain analysts, has released its bi-annual report Crypto & DeFi Hacks & Scams Report.
According to the research, there were 120 security attacks, 73 attacks on DeFi protocols and 33 fraudulent schemes that have so far resulted in the theft of approximately $12.1bn worth of crypto assets in total between 2011 and 2021.
The report states that over $1.7bn was stolen from DeFi protocols. According to Crystal’s experts this can be explained by the fact that the technology is new and still has a lot of vulnerabilities.
The biggest DeFi breach to date occurred in 2021 to Poly Network, a DeFi initiative, targeted by a hacker, or hackers, who stole more than $614m in tokens (the majority of these funds have been returned).
A leader in the laundering of dirty bitcoins is BTC-e (indicted for money laundering in January 2017), which managed to launder over 200,000 BTC over several years.
According to the Crystal database, over a third of all stolen BTC funds were distributed via fraudulent exchanges, defined as exchanges that have been involved in exit scams, illegal behaviour, or who have had funds seized by the government.
