September 2024 crypto hacks surpass $120M, centralized exchanges hit

Cumulative losses from cryptocurrency hacks exceeded $120 million in September, marking the second-lowest monthly losses from hacks in 2024 after April. 

Centralized exchanges remain frequent targets for crypto hackers, leading to significant losses month after month. In September, crypto exchanges BingX and Indodax accounted for more than half of the $120 million in losses.

Blockchain investigation firm Peckshield noted that the total losses of $120.23 million were spread across over 20 hacks.

Centralized exchanges remain vulnerable

September saw a 61.7% decrease in losses from hacks compared to August when the crypto ecosystem lost nearly $314 million. Of the two crypto exchanges hacked in September, BingX recorded the highest loss of $44 million, while Indodax lost $21 million.

Several decentralized entities were also affected, including the decentralized finance protocol Penpie, which lost $27 million to an exploit. Other prominent DeFi hacks include DeFi platform Delta Prime ($6 million), inflation data platform Truflation ($5.6 million) and crypto liquid restaking protocol Bedrock ($2 million).

Related: Binance denies blame in $230M WazirX hack, urges user repayments

Crypto lender Shezmu, initially hacked for $5 million, managed to partially recover the stolen funds through onchain negotiation with the hacker. Telegram bot Banana Gun also announced a refund to crypto traders impacted by its $3 million hack. 

WazirX struggles after 2024’s largest crypto hack

Indian crypto exchange WazirX remains the biggest victim of a hack in 2024 as of Oct. 1

On July 18, WazirX lost $235 million after one of its Safe Multisig wallets on Ethereum was compromised. Following the breach, the exchange suspended all crypto and cash withdrawals to conduct an internal investigation.

Three months later, WazirX has yet to issue any remediation plans to compensate affected users. 

In a recent development, rival crypto exchange CoinSwitch initiated legal action against WazirX to recover 2% of its assets, valued at approximately $6.2 million. Despite its ongoing fund recovery efforts, WazirX recently said 43% of customer funds are irrevocably lost.

Magazine: Advanced AI system is already ‘self-aware’ — ASI Alliance founder