Losses from cryptocurrency hacks and frauds saw a significant decline in May, according to a report released on May 30 by blockchain security firm Immunefi.
The report highlights that $52 million was lost due to hacks and frauds, down from $59 million in the same period last year, marking a 12% year-over-year decrease.
This trend of decreasing losses in the Web3 industry has been ongoing. Immunefi’s earlier reports showed a 23% decline in crypto losses during the first quarter of 2024 compared to the previous year.
Additionally, another security firm, CertiK, reported that April had the lowest recorded losses in the history of the industry.
May’s losses were primarily due to two major incidents. The largest was a hack targeting Gala Games, a Web3 gaming protocol, which resulted in a $21 million loss.
The second significant attack was on Sonne Finance, a decentralized finance platform, which suffered $20 million in losses. These two incidents alone accounted for 78% of the total losses in May.
Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain were the most targeted networks in May, accounting for 62% of all attacks.
Interestingly, no centralized exchanges reported losses from attacks during this period, indicating that decentralized protocols remain the primary targets for hackers.
Fraud contributed to a smaller portion of the losses, amounting to $1.7 million or 13.6% of the total. The majority of the losses were due to hacks and exploits.
The report did not explore specific reasons for the decline in monetary losses from exploits.
However, past reports from 2023 suggested that improved security measures and more effective law enforcement practices might be contributing to the reduced impact of these attacks.
For instance, in April, Blockaid noted that its software had forced some crypto drainers to cease operations, thereby mitigating certain types of threats.
