- Immunefi reports an estimate of 73.3% rug pulls, which occurred in Q1 of 2023.
- The report shows that Ethereum and BNB Chain networks held the highest record of hacks in the crypto industry.
- Over $437 million were lost in the Q1 of 2023.
A blockchain security firm, Immunefi, released a report in the Q1 of 2023, confirming that most hacks, rug pulls, and exploits happened on BNB Chain.
On April 4, Immunefi published a report titled “Crypto Losses in Q1 2023,” in it, the blockchain security firm analyzed the losses experienced by crypto firms, revealing Ethereum and BNB Chain to hold the highest records for 2023 Q1.
According to the report, Ethereum and BNB Chain were explicitly targeted by hackers and fraudsters, resulting in 68.8% losses from both networks in the first quarter of the year, with BNB ranking highest at 41.3%.
The two significant exploits in Q1 of 2023 totaled over $370 million and comprised 72.5% of the hacks. A particular method of scamming was mainly recorded on BNB Chain; the Web3 bug bounty and security services platform stated that 73.3% of rug pulls in the crypto industry were recorded on the BNB Chain.
Although rug pulls were highly recorded to have occurred on the BNB Chain network, the Immunefi team mentioned that rug pulls were the least of the problems in the crypto industry compared to the hacks and exploits.
The two significant losses in Q1 were all executed by hackers, whereas the other frauds, which included rug pulls, made up 4.3% of the losses. Immunefi listed Euler Finance and BonqDAO as the two most exploited crypto firms. Euler Finance lost $197 million, while BonqDAO lost $120 million.
Adrian Hetman, the Tech Lead at Immunefi, commented on promoting and using forked codes.
“BNB Chain still has a serious problem with developers using forked code. Its community lacks a security-first protocol and attracts multiple users searching for a quick way to make money. That’s why we continue to witness the biggest number of exploits and rug pulls on the ecosystem,” he said.
However, despite the massive loss of assets and funds recorded in Q1, Immunefi also reported that some of these crypto firms had recovered most of their stolen assets. It stated that over $177 million of stolen funds had been recovered.
Euler Finance was able to recover $177 million of its stolen $197 million, while SperaxUSD recovered the entirety of its $250,000 that was stolen.
Mitchell Amador, the CEO and founder of Immunefi commended the security improvement by most crypto firms. He noted that due to the low amount of funds being deposited into crypto, the impact of these losses is less devastating.
“Projects have significantly increased their security measures via audits and bug bounties, but blackhats have kept pace. Losses are presently down, but mostly because the amount of funds in crypto has reduced, making hacks less devastating,” Mitchell said.
Conclusion
The report revealed by Immunefi indicated that Ethereum and BNB Chain held the highest records of hacks and rug pulls in the Q1 of 2023. Fortunately, some of the stolen funds have been recovered.
