Amongst many illicit strategies that thieves make the most of to get their arms on others’ cryptocurrency, phishing was probably the most profitable one by far in 2024.
2024 noticed a lack of $2.36 billion in whole throughout 760 on-chain safety incidents. It is a 31.61% enhance in comparison with 2023.
A whopping $1.05 billion was misplaced to phishing assaults alone over the previous yr – almost half of the overall quantity, in accordance with the newest report by blockchain safety agency CertiK.
The attackers dedicated the thefts over 296 separate incidents, which is 39% of the overall variety of assaults.
Moreover, solely three of the almost 300 incidents resulted in a $100 million loss.

Per the report, the quantity recommend that phishing assaults, on common, “usually result in bigger quantities stolen per incident than different vulnerabilities.”
All 4 quarters of final yr recorded excessive exercise ranges associated to phishing assaults and personal key theft. Nonetheless, Q2 noticed the best lack of $433.7 million in 67 phishing assaults.
Phishing is standard as a result of its simplicity and effectiveness, the report says. It’s not a lot about technological defenses as it’s about human vulnerability.
Blockchain transactions make phishing “significantly devastating” as these are irreversible.
In 2024, hackers returned lower than $213.33 million.
The numbers from 2024 are in, and the Web3 ecosystem faces vital challenges. Over $2.36B was stolen throughout 760 incidents, marking a 31.61% enhance from the earlier yr.
Dive into the 2024 Hack3d Report back to see the insights that formed the yr and what’s subsequent.pic.twitter.com/86QyfYia8M
— CertiK (@CertiK) January 2, 2025
Non-public key theft additionally proved profitable. These compromises took the second place on the most-costly assault vectors checklist.
In whole, thieves stole $855,385,570 throughout 65 incidents of this kind.
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Ethereum and BSC Have been the Most ‘Phished’
Between 2022 and 2023, phishing losses jumped by 244.41%, the report discovered.
In 2024, Ethereum noticed probably the most safety incidents total, with 403 of the overall 760 hacks, scams, and exploits. The losses amounted to $748,688,677.
Due to this fact, Ethereum was additionally the most well-liked chain for phishing assaults. One of these assault led to greater than $297.5 million loss on Ethereum throughout 248 incidents.
Binance Sensible Chain (BSC) was the second-most focused chain in the case of phishing scams.

Total, throughout all assault vectors, attackers additionally “closely focused” Bitcoin and Tron.
These two chains misplaced $542.7 million and $133 million, respectively.
In the meantime, 39 safety breaches that affected a number of chains led to $435 million in losses.
The third quarter of 2024 – equally to the third quarter of 2023 – was hit the toughest. It recorded 157 incidents and misplaced $753.3 million.
Nonetheless, observing the losses on the month-to-month foundation, Could was “the costliest month of the yr.” It misplaced $444.4 million throughout 63 incidents.
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