In the last few weeks, especially in June 2024, the cryptocurrency market has experienced massive losses due to hacks and scams. Following this recent wave of crypto losses, the overall loss in the second quarter of 2024 has more than doubled compared to the same period last year. Today, on June 27, 2024, the blockchain security firm Immunefi published a report stating that the total losses for Q2 2024 reached over $572 million, up from $220 million in Q2 of 2023.

$572 million crypto loss in Q2 2024

These massive losses in the evolving industry come from hacks on centralized exchanges (CEXs). According to the report, in Q2 2024, CEXs experienced a total crypto loss of $401 million, which is equivalent to 70% of the total. This occurred despite a relatively small number of successful attacks on centralized protocols, with only five incidents recorded.

Besides CEXs, during the same period, the decentralized protocols experienced 62 successful scams resulting in $171 million in crypto loss. However, this loss is 25% lower than the previous year. 

However, the major incident was observed on May 31, 2024, following the hack of the DMM cryptocurrency exchange that lost nearly $305 million of Bitcoin. Additionally, this was the only largest single loss in Q2 2024. Whereas, another major hack was observed on June 22, 2024, when BtcTurk was breached, leading to $55 million in losses. Together, these two incidents accounted for more than 62% of the total losses for the quarter.

The report also highlighted that Ethereum and the BNB Smart Chain remained the top targets for hackers and scammers, representing 71% of total losses. However, there is growing evidence that Ethereum layer 2 solutions are becoming more popular among malicious actors. Arbitrum, for instance, was the third most targeted network, with four incidents accounting for 5.5% of total losses. Blast and Optimism each faced three incidents.

Immunefi founder’s words on crypto loss

Mitchell Amador, founder of Immunefi, highlighted the importance of securing centralized exchange infrastructure, stating, 

“This quarter highlights how infrastructure compromises can be the most devastating hacks in crypto, as a single compromise can lead to millions in damages. Robust measures to safeguard the entirety of the ecosystem are crucial.”

Despite the massive losses in Q2 2024, there were some successes in recovering stolen funds. Security researchers managed to recover nearly all the funds from the Gala Games protocol hack. Additionally, most of the funds lost by Alex Labs, Bloom, and Yolo Games were also recovered. These recoveries represented about 5% of the total amount lost in the quarter.