Cryptocurrency related crime has gained more visibility in the first quarter of 2023, as the amount of money lost to cyber-related theft has decreased compared to the same period in 2022. According to a report released by antivirüs and app provider DeFi, the losses during the first quarter of 2023 totaled $452 million, which is a significant reduction compared to the losses in Q1 of 2022, which amounted to $1.3 billion.

However, recovery rate from these losses is not quite encouraging: whereas 40% of the funds which were reported stolen in the first quarter of 2022, were recovered, only 28.7% was reported to be recovered in the same period of this year. Moreover, the four most compromised so-called REKT “chains” are Ethereum, Matic, Arb and Binance, with the greatest loss coming from the Euler Finance hack, amounting to $196 million.

Unfortunately, users of decentralized exchanges and cryptographic tokens and nonfungible tokens have also suffered losses due to theft and scams, which appears to be a continuing issue.

To mitigate this, federal enforcement agencies of the United States are ramping up the pressure on crypto-related crime, with arrests and sanctions having been imposed in recent months with greater intensity.

It remains to be seen if this new approach will lead to sustained benefits for the crypto economy, as the rate of cryptocurrency related crime has been an issue for quite some time. It is also of utmost importance that users take these security measures very seriously and exercise caution when handling and investing in cryptocurrency.



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