- Immunefi report, a web3 bounty platform, reveals most of the $662,850,580 lost in crypto exploits were due to Mixin Network and Multichain.
- The report highlighted 49 reported crypto hacks during the third quarter of 2023.
- While DeFi losses increased by 18.5% in Q3 2023, CeFi losses skyrocketed by 3,409.14%, albeit at a much lower incident rate.
Immunefi, the leading bug bounty and security services platform for web3, has revealed in its report that various projects in the third quarter of 2023 are responsible for the majority of the $686 million in losses from crypto exploits.
Immunefi is the largest and most widely adopted bug bounty platform in web3, which is trusted by established, multi-billion dollar projects like Chainlink, Wormhole, MakerDAO, TheGraph, Synthetix, and more.
In the report, Immunefi highlighted 49 reported crypto hacks during the third quarter of 2023. This signified a significant increase in comparison to the corresponding quarter in 2022.
The report stated,
‘’ Most of that sum was lost to two specific projects: Mixin Network, a transactional network for digital assets, and Multichain, a cross-chain router protocol.”
It further stated that these numbers represent a 66% increase compared to Q3 2022 when losses caused by hacks totaled $398 912 483.
Recently, Mixin Network, a decentralized platform for peer-to-peer transactions, announced a substantial financial setback—losing around $200 million in digital currency assets. Initial investigations point to a loophole in an external cloud service provider’s database as the potential cause.
Mixin Network suspended all money intake and outflow activities. They sought the expertise of SlowMist, a recognized authority in blockchain, and the technological prowess of Google to unravel the details of the intrusion and strategize the retrieval of the misplaced assets. A breakdown of the missing funds includes Ether (ETH) having a value of $94.48 million, Dai (DAI) tagged at $23.55 million, and Bitcoin (BTC) priced near $23.3 million. Collectively, these assets were assessed at roughly $141.32 million.
Similarly, on July 7, Multichain fell victim to a hack that saw $126 million in assets compromised.
Mixin Network and Multichain losses in Q3, 2023. Source: Immunefi
The DeFi Sector Suffers Major Crypto Hacks
On the other hand, the blockchain security firm noted that decentralized finance (DeFi) projects suffered the most hacks during Q3, with around 67% of the breaches targeting platforms in the sector. DeFi has suffered $499,810,444 in total losses in Q3 2023 across 71 projects. This is an 18.5% increase compared to Q3 2022, when DeFi losses amounted to $423,423,783.
It is worth noting that other sectors, including blockchains, payment platforms, exchanges, casinos, and infrastructure, also faced hacking incidents during the period.
Meanwhile, CeFi suffered $185,700,000 in total losses in Q3 2023, however, at a much lower incident rate of 5. This represents a staggering 3,409% surge compared to Q3 2022, when CeFi losses amounted to $5,294,300.
In the most recent interview by a BeInCrypto news outlet, Amer Vohora, CEO of SwissFortress, attributes the rise in crypto exploits to outdated infrastructure.
The CEO pointed out that the majority of transactions are still using the same receiving address as outlined in the 2008 Satoshi whitepaper, which may be a better choice given the widespread adoption of crypto.
