In the first quarter of 2023, hackers were able to gain access to more than $320 million worth of funds in the crypto sector. This amount is significantly lower than the reported $1.3 billion and $950 million lost within the quarters of 2022. On-chain data analysis conducted by blockchain security firm CertiK suggested that the difference could be attributed to off-chain occurrences, like the issues with Silvergate Bank and the de-pegging of the USDC.

Out of the looted funds during the three-month period, the majority of losses were allocated to the flash loan and oracle manipulation exploits, amounting to more than $222 million. Even though only 90 exit scams were reported during the quarter, they still resulted in approximately $31 million worth of losses. Upon closer inspection, BNB Chain had the largest number of incidents recorded, whereas Ethereum, with fewer incidents, had the largest amount of losses for the quarter at $221 million.

A majority of these losses were derived from the Euler Finance hack on March 13. A flash loan exploit allowed hackers to gain access to more than $195 million. Fortunately, due to the successful negotiations with the hackers, the protocol was able to recover approximately 90% of the missing funds. Likewise, Sentiment, a lending platform, also tracked down and recovered most of the funds to their platform - around $870,000 - after offering a bounty of $95,000 to the perpetrators.

Even with the decrease in losses during Q1 2023, it is still important not to forget that major funds were lost and that the efforts taken to remedy the situation emphasize the effectiveness of the strategies implemented to reclaim stolen funds. This also serves as a reminder for crypto users to exercise utmost security measures to avoid becoming victims of crypto-related exploits and hacks.



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