A total of $4 billion was lost by the cryptocurrency and Web3 industry in 2022 due to increased piracy, fraud, scams and the crisis that the digital asset ecosystem is currently experiencing.
However, this loss compared to 2021 yielded a decrease of more than 50%, noted a report by Immunefi, a security services platform for the Web3 ecosystem.
The study detailed that the cryptocurrency sector lost $3.9 billion in 2022 and one of the main causes of this drop was the rise of illegal activities led by hackers.
Specifically, hacking stole more than 95% of all cryptocurrencies lost in 2022. Fraud and scams accounted for 4.4% of total losses.
“Last year Decentralized Finance (DeFi) was the top target of successful exploits (attacks) with 80.5%; however, Centralized Finance (CeFi) only yielded a total of 19.5% in losses,” the report noted.
In total, DeFi lost $3,180,023,103 million during 2022. The figure represented a 56.2% increase compared to 2021, when it lost $2,036,015,896 million in 107 incidents.
2022 was one of the worst years for the crypto ecosystem
Immunefi specified in its report that 2022 can be considered one of the worst years for the crypto ecosystem as many DeFi and CeFi experienced catastrophic events.
It noted that the most notable examples were the collapse of the Terra/LUNA ecosystem and the FTX cryptocurrency exchange.
He also indicated that the Binance (BNB) and Ethereum (ETH) blockchains suffered 65 and 49 attacks respectively.
BNB Chain and Ethereum accounted for more than half of the blockchain attacks with 63.3%.
Likewise, the Solana network backed by FTX, was the third most attacked chain with 12 incidents, or 6.7% of the total number of attacks in 2022.
It is worth mentioning that a portion of the funds stolen by hackers was successfully recovered in 2022 itself.
“In total, $204,157 billion was recovered in 12 specific instances. This number represents only 5.2% of the total losses in 2022,” the report stressed.
Axie Infinity attacks
Immunefi reported that Axie Infinity’s Ronin blockchain suffered losses of $625 million in ethereum and USD Coin (USDC).
Similarly, Wormhole, the platform that enables cryptocurrency exchange between blockchains lost $190 million; BNB Chain $570 million and FTX $650 million, accounting for 60% of all losses in 2022.
“Looking at the losses suffered with the crypto community in 2022 is a reminder of the significance of prioritizing protection and enforcing sturdy and consistent measures in 2023,” said Immunefi CEO Mitchell Amador.
He pointed out that vulnerabilities in the cryptocurrency ecosystem and Web3 must be identified and addressed to protect the community from harm and build greater trust.
What is Web3?
Web3 is a term used to describe a computer network where all data is connected and where all machines process information in the same way as humans.
In Web3, users interact through language and access content easily, while machines interpret the software and process requests quickly.
Here is a full article about Web3
And more news about Web3 here
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