Cryptocurrency hackers strike again, with over $13 million in cyber theft on yet another crypto exchange.
Centralized cryptocurrency exchange (CEX) M2 was hacked for $13.7 million worth of digital assets, the exchange shared in an Oct. 31 announcement, which stated:
“We would like to report that the situation has been fully resolved and customer funds have been restored. M2 has taken full responsibility for any potential losses, demonstrating our unwavering commitment to safeguarding our customers’ interests. All services are now fully operational with additional controls in place.”
M2 security incident. Source: M2
Hackers managed to steal the $13.7 million in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL) from the exchange’s hot wallets, wrote pseudonymous onchain investigator ZachXBT in a Nov. 1 Telegram post.
The incident occurred nearly four months after a hacker stole over $230 million from WazirX, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange, in the second-largest cryptocurrency hack of 2024 so far.
Related: Telegram bot Banana Gun’s users drained of over $1.9M
Crypto hacks soar to $19 billion in 13 years: the biggest issue for mass crypto adoption?
Hacks and scams are growing into the biggest challenge for mass cryptocurrency adoption.
During the 13 years up to June 12, 2024, the industry suffered nearly $19 billion worth of losses across 785 reported hacking incidents, according to a Crystal Intelligence report shared with Cointelegraph.
Crypto amounts stolen via hacks and scams in 2023/2024. Source: Crystal intelligence
The largest single crypto theft case remains the 2019 Plus Token fraud when attackers netted $2.9 billion worth of Bitcoin and Ether.
During the past two years, the $290 million security breach on PlayDapp represented the largest single crypto heist in February 2024.
During the same period, the JPEX investment scam in Hong Kong made for the largest single crypto fraud scheme, resulting in $194.3 million of stolen crypto.
Related: Chinese trader laundered more than $17M for Lazarus Group in 25 hacks
Another concerning sign for adoption is that crypto hacks in 2024 could potentially top 2023, as the first quarter of 2024 saw $542.7 million worth of stolen funds, a 42% increase compared to the same period in 2023.
Centralized exchanges remain the largest target for hackers in terms of total value stolen. The 10 largest decentralized finance (DeFi) hacks in 2023 and 2024 accounted for nearly $579 million in stolen assets.
$3 billion stolen in hacks — Why are crypto crimes surging? Source: Cointelegraph
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