Chainalysis shows that in 2024, there will be a lot more crypto hacks and cash payments.
Chainalysis says that there has been a huge rise in crimes involving cryptocurrencies in 2024, such as hacking and virus attacks. Even though the total number of illegal crypto deals has dropped 19.6% this year, crime has risen sharply in some places.
Through the first half of 2024, the value of all stolen coin has grown by 84%, reaching $1.58 billion. The main reason for this rise is the thirteenfold increase in the price of Bitcoin, from $26,141 to $60,091. The average amount of money stolen from each hack has gone up by 79.5%, from $5.9 million to $10.6 million, even though the number of hacks has only gone up by 2.8% since 2023.
Following a four-year trend of focused on decentralized platforms, the study shows a clear return to targeting centralized exchanges (CEXs). This change is made clear by high-profile hacks like the $305 million theft from the Japanese exchange DMM. The rise in activity on CEXs compared to decentralized finance (DeFi) services might be the cause of this comeback.
Also, ransomware attacks have gotten worse, and $459.8 million has been paid in total. This suggests that 2024 may be the biggest year ever for malware. The biggest kidnap payment of the year was an amazing $75 million. This is 96% more than in 2023 and 335% more than in 2022. This shows that hackers are mostly going after big businesses with lots of money. These businesses are more likely to comply with ransom demands because they have a lot of valuable assets and important equipment.
The study shows that both the amount of crypto theft and the intensity of ransomware attacks have been getting worse, which is a worrying trend in the cryptocurrency sector as a whole.
