Hackers and cryptocurrency scammers made off with $452 million in the first quarter of 2023, according according to a report published by antivirus and application provider De.Fi. But that's good news and bad news, as losses narrowed from $1.3 billion in the first quarter of 2022. However, the recovery rate dropped as well.
According to the report, almost half of the losses this quarter ($215 million) occurred in the first three weeks of March. He Euler Finance and Bonq DAO exploits were the quarterly loss leaders at $196 million and $120 million, respectively. Due to those exploits, the Ethereum blockchain suffered the biggest losses in dollar terms, despite being outperformed by Binance 18 incidents to 10.
The CoinDeal scheme was next, with $45 million minted, followed by the Monkey Draer Phishing Scammersit came in fourth place, with $16.5 million lost.
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In the 49 cases examined in the report, six quick loan attacks accounted for the most significant losses at more than $200 million, with Euler Finance accounting for the largest share of the total. Smart contract exploits were the most common type in 17 incidents. Decentralized Finance (DeFi) accounted for only five incidents, but suffered the brunt of the losses with $336 million.
REPORT: $452 MILLION IN CRYPTO WAS LOST IN 1Q 2023
โข In Q1 2023, Crypto lost x3 less than in Q1 2022: $452 million vs. $1.3 billion
โข The 4 main REKT chains are: $ETH, $MATIC, $ARB, $BNB
โข Largest REKT: Euler Finance ($196 million stolen)
โก๏ธ Read the Reporthttps://t.co/QxwgDWI8Jq
โ De.Fi๏ธ Web3 Antivirus (@DeDotFiSecurity) March 31, 2023
In the first quarter, $130 million was recovered from the exploits. All that money was recovered in March, with $129 million returned by Euler Finance hackers. In the first quarter of 2022, $520 million of the lost $1.3 billion was returned, representing 40% of stolen funds, compared to 28.7% this year.
While DeFi dominated the reported losses, losses on decentralized exchanges and crypto tokens and non-fungible tokens are likely to affect retail users as well. Theft is not uncommon for retail users, with ever-evolving scams.
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