Major crypto hacks fell 40% in May, says PeckShield


In Could, the full quantity stolen from crypto hacks declined drastically in comparison with April, with the most important incident making up round 90% of the month’s whole, in response to a blockchain safety agency.

The decline comes because the crypto business has been stepping up its efforts to remain forward of hackers. “In Could 2025, ~20 main crypto hacks have been recorded, leading to whole losses of $244.1M — a 39.29% lower from April,” blockchain safety agency PeckShield said in a Could 31 X publish.

Nearly all of funds from the month’s largest hack have been frozen

Essentially the most important hack of the month occurred on the Cetus decentralized alternate on Could 22, with $223 million in person losses inside 24 hours.

In response to blockchain safety agency Dedaub, the hackers exploited a flaw in the most important bits (MSB) verify, permitting them to govern the values for the liquidity parameters by orders of magnitude and set up comparatively giant positions with a keystroke. 

Cryptocurrencies, Hacks
February 2025 recorded the most important crypto hack losses this yr, totaling $1.51 billion. Supply: PeckShield

PeckShield reported that Cetus and the Sui Community had frozen $157 million in stolen funds, about 71% of the full quantity stolen. PeckShield recognized the second-largest exploit of the month as a $12 million assault on the DeFi platform Cork Protocol.

In response to the cybersecurity firm Cyvers, the Cork Protocol attacker used the exploit to steal roughly 3,761 Wrapped Staked Ether (wstETH), which was transformed to Ether.

The final three of the 5 largest hacks for the month have been a suspected DPRK-linked hack for $5.2 million, an MBU token exploit for $2.2 million, and a MapleStory Universe exploit for $1.2 million.

Crypto business steps up struggle in opposition to hackers

It comes because the crypto business has been ramping up its efforts to guard itself in opposition to unhealthy actors.

On Could 31, Cointelegraph reported that crypto exchange BitMEX’s security team discovered gaps within the operational safety of the Lazarus Group, a North Korean government-sponsored cybercrime community, following a counter-operations probe into the group, which uncovered IP addresses, a database, and monitoring algorithms utilized by the malicious group.

Associated: Insurance companies race to cover crypto kidnap and ransom risks

During the first quarter of 2025, hackers stole over $1.63 billion in cryptocurrency. PeckShield identified that the Bybit exploit accounted for greater than 92% of whole losses.

The agency additionally reported that over $87 million in crypto was misplaced to hacks in January, whereas February noticed a dramatic spike to $1.53 billion, primarily because of the Bybit assault. That incident was one of many largest crypto thefts so far.

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