Cryptocurrency Hack Losses Decreased by 44.6% Year-over-Year in January

A recent report from Immunefi, a platform specializing in Web3 bug bounties and security services, details the cryptocurrency industry’s losses from hacking incidents in January 2025.

Significant Increase in Monthly Losses

The industry faced losses totaling $73.9 million from 19 different hacking events. This figure represents a staggering ninefold increase compared to the previous month. However, losses decreased by 44.6% compared to January of the previous year, when they exceeded $133 million.

Major Security Breaches

Most of the January losses stemmed from two significant security breaches. The Singapore-based centralized cryptocurrency exchange Phemex suffered the largest loss, with hackers stealing $69.1 million.

Additionally, a cyberattack on the DeFi options platform Moby Trade resulted in a loss of $2.5 million. Other DeFi platforms, such as Orange Finance, IPC, The Idols NFT, UniLend Finance, Odos, Laura Ai, Pika Infinity, and Sorra, also experienced attacks. Fortunately, no fraud cases were reported during the month.

Targeted Networks

The BNB Chain was the most targeted network in January. It accounted for 50% of the month’s on-chain losses, attributed to 10 separate attacks. Ethereum was the second most affected network, making up 25% of the total losses. Other networks, including Arbitrum and Base, each faced two attacks, while Optimism experienced one.

Contributions to Blockchain Security

Over the past three years, Immunefi has significantly contributed to blockchain security. The platform has paid over $112 million to ethical hackers and researchers. These rewards have been given for more than 3,000 bug bounty reports. The largest single payment was $10 million for a vulnerability found in the Wormhole cross-chain protocol.

Immunefi hosts the largest blockchain security community, with over 45,000 researchers. Their efforts have reportedly prevented potential losses exceeding $25 billion in user funds across various protocols, including Polygon, Optimism, Chainlink, The Graph, Synthetix, and MakerDAO (Sky).

By addressing these issues, the report emphasizes the importance of ongoing vigilance in the cryptocurrency space.