$16M in crypto misplaced to hacks in August — Report

by Jeremy

A complete of $15.8 million in cryptocurrencies have been misplaced to hacks or exploits within the month of August.

In response to an Aug. 31 report by blockchain safety agency Immunfi, a mixed $23.4 million in crypto was misplaced to a mixture of hacks and fraud, a big lower in comparison with the $320.5 million misplaced in July. All exploits consisted of assaults in opposition to decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, and never a single incident affected centralized finance entities. 

Of the 21 safety incidents reported, 5 came about on the Ethereum blockchain, whereas 4 occurred on BNB Chain. Coinbase’s extremely anticipated layer-2 answer, Base, witnessed 4 safety exploits shortly after its launch on Aug. 9.

Prime losses embody the Precisely Protocol hack on Aug. 18, the place 4,323.6 Ether (ETH) ($7.2 million) in customers’ deposits have been stolen by way of a malicious deposit contract. 

In the meantime, on Aug. 25, Magnate Finance, a borrowing and lending protocol deployed on Base, orchestrated an alleged $6.5 million exit rip-off after distinguished DeFi sleuth zachXBT claimed the Magnate Finance deployer handle was linked to the exit rip-off. All property have since been faraway from the protocol’s good contract, with its web site and socials additionally offline. 

Yr-to-date, customers have misplaced $1.25 billion in crypto as a result of hacks and fraudulent actions, in line with Immunefi information. In March, DeFi protocol Euler Finance misplaced $195 million in a malicious flash mortgage assault. Lower than one month later, the Euler hacker returned over 90% of customers’ property after builders threatened them with authorized motion. 

DeFi August 2023 safety incident report | Supply: Immunefi

Journal: Ought to we ban ransomware funds? It’s a sexy however harmful thought