In April, cyberattacks, hacks, and scams in the cryptocurrency industry resulted in losses amounting to $103 million, as per the blockchain and smart contract security firm, Certified Kernel Tech (CertiK). This is a lesser figure compared to the $211 million worth of digital assets that were stolen in March 2023.
Summary of April’s Incidents
CertiK’s estimate revealed that hackers were able to drain approximately $103.6 million worth of digital assets from various crypto projects in April. Exit scams made up for $9.3 million, while flash loan attacks accounted for nearly $20 million.
Some of the significant incidents in April include the $25 million theft from a large Ethereum Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) bot, which fell prey to a «sandwich attack.» In this scenario, an attacker exploits liquidity gaps to conduct profitable trades at the expense of vulnerable users.
Bitrue exchange was hacked as well, where the company suffered a «brief exploit» in one of its hot wallets, which led to losses of $23 million worth of ETH, QNT, GALA, SHIB, HOT, and MATIC. GDAC, a South Korean crypto exchange, also had its Gdac Hot Wallet compromised, resulting in losses of over 60 BTC, 350.5 ETH, 10,000,000 WEMIX, and 220,000 USDT (valued at $13 million).
Other incidents in April include the Yearn Finance exploit ($10.2 million), Hundred Finance attack ($7.5 million), SushiSwap hack ($3.3 million), and more.
Worse Figures in March
While April’s data might appear concerning, it is still better than March when hackers stole $211.5 million worth of digital currencies across 26 attacks. Almost $200 million was lost in the Euler Finance exploit alone, which comprised 93% of the total amount. However, the exploit’s alleged perpetrator, Jacob, started returning the assets by the end of the month and even apologized for the crime. The exploit ended in the beginning of April when the exploiter returned all the funds.
