657 Cryptocurrency Exchange Hacks, $12.8 Billion in Losses in Past 5 Years

According to statistics from the Research and Development Department of the Vietnam Blockchain Association (VBA) based on reports by Chainalysis and Immunefi, the world recorded 657 cryptocurrency exchange hacks, causing losses of up to 12.8 billion USD from 2020 to February 25, 2025, warning of cyber security risks globally.

High profile attacks

2022 is considered the "peak" with 219 cyber attacks, causing a loss of about 3.8 billion USD.

In the first two months of 2025, the market recorded 20 hacks with a total amount of nearly 2.5 billion USD, of which, Bybit was the latest name to be heavily affected with 1.5 billion USD stolen. This attack was carried out by the Lazarus group from North Korea, using malware to steal assets.

Next is the Ronin hack (2022) with a loss of $615 million, affecting the network of the game Axie Infinity, due to the exploitation of a cross-chain bridge vulnerability.

The third largest hack in the past five years was Poly Network (2021) with $610 million stolen, but the hacker returned most of the assets after negotiations.

In addition, the attack on DMM Bitcoin (2024) also caused a net withdrawal of $300 million from the exchange, the incident stemming from a private key compromise, leading to DMM Bitcoin's closure shortly thereafter.

Or the attack on Kucoin exchange (2020) also caused a loss of 281 million USD, mainly targeting Ethereum and Bitcoin, causing panic in the blockchain community.

Common forms of attack

According to statistics from the VBA Research and Development Department, from 2020 to February 25, 2025, there are 3 main forms of attacks in the cryptocurrency field, including: Private key compromise, cross-chain bridge attack and smart contract exploit.

Private key compromises accounted for 36% of all hacks, with 235 incidents and a loss of $5.6 billion (44% of total losses). These attacks typically occur on centralized exchanges (CEXs) or personal wallets, with hackers stealing private keys to gain control of assets. In 2024, cybercriminals stole $1.34 billion through this method.

Cross-chain bridge attacks also caused significant damage, with 79 incidents (12%) and an estimated $1.25 billion, posing major risks when transactions between blockchain networks are not tightly secured.

Meanwhile, smart contract exploits are the most common method in the blockchain sector, accounting for 58% of all hacks with losses of up to $6.95 billion.

Hackers have exploited vulnerabilities in smart contract code to launch attacks and steal assets from decentralized finance protocols.

Dr. Do Van Thuat, technology expert, Vietnam Blockchain Association

Dr. Do Van Thuat, technology expert, Vietnam Blockchain Association said, smart contracts are transaction rules programmed and deployed for different applications (Dapps) on a blockchain network.

Although blockchain is highly secure, the security of applications also depends on the set of operating rules specified in the contract. If the rules are flawed or have vulnerabilities that lead to insecurity and are exploited, it will cause financial losses, similar to civil and business contracts in real life.

According to Dr. Nguyen Duy Lan, technology expert, Vietnam Blockchain Association, attacks on cryptocurrencies often combine exploiting vulnerabilities and using social engineering techniques, targeting different weaknesses in both the Web 3 and Web 2 parts of the system.

For Web 3, logical errors in smart contracts are commonly exploited, such as unsafe handling of special cases, errors in mathematical operations, and cryptographic vulnerabilities. Web 2 can be attacked in a variety of ways, often focusing on the private keys of users, administrators, or bridges.

If these keys are protected by hardware security devices such as hardware security management systems (HSMs) or cold wallets, theft becomes nearly impossible.

Solutions for Vietnam in the future

According to experts, the main reason lies in the smart contract administrators being deceived, not the contract having vulnerabilities, most contracts are still safe, the potential for blockchain applications through smart contracts is still very open and promising.

To minimize risks, VBA technology experts believe that contract developers and operators (holding secret keys) must put safety first, consult information security and system security units to prevent hackers and minimize risks.

Mr. Phan Duc Trung, Chairman of Vietnam Blockchain Association

Investing in security technology, people and processes is essential, including developing security tools, conducting testing, auditing and penetration testing.

Establish an operational monitoring system and apply artificial intelligence (AI) to detect anomalies. Security needs to be integrated into the entire cryptocurrency system development process, from design to deployment, and can learn from the security processes of the traditional IT industry.

From the recent hacks of crypto-asset exchanges, Mr. Phan Duc Trung, Chairman of the Vietnam Blockchain Association, said that Vietnam needs to quickly establish information security standards and crypto-asset management.

As the digital asset market continues to grow, the lack of a clear regulatory framework not only leaves investors vulnerable, but also limits the potential of the blockchain industry. Only with a legal foundation can we build a trustworthy crypto asset ecosystem that protects users and fosters innovation.

BUI TUAN

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/657-vu-hack-san-giao-dich-tai-san-ma-hoa-thiet-hai-128-ty-usd-trong-5-nam-qua-post784056.html