Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis said 2022 was “the biggest year ever” in terms of hacks. Thus, it was not enough that the year was the scene of a massive drop in the price of cryptocurrencies, it was also the biggest in theft of cryptoassets. In this way, the company points out that despite having selected the main hacker attacks that occurred in the year, they are still only a small portion. So he claims that the highlighted hacks alone add up to $2.2 billion of lost customer money. “The apparent lack of security this year has made an already brutal bear market even more difficult for many,” the company said. Check out the biggest hacks of 2022 according to Chainalysis:
Table of Contents
1. FTX: $650 million
It was the biggest event of the year and undoubtedly the biggest news of 2022. So in addition to the company having lost billions of its users in operations that went wrong, the company was also the victim of a hacker in an attack beyond mysterious. Thus, several wallets allegedly belonging to FTX were drained of around $640 million worth of tokens. The funds were then transferred to other exchanges and converted into different cryptocurrencies. And even though the hacker used centralized exchanges, it is still unclear who stole the crypto assets.
2. Binance (Binance Smart Chain): $566 million
Hackers hit the blockchain associated with the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange on Oct. 6, stealing $566 million worth of BNB. Thus, the exploit targeted a BSC bridge. So hackers basically created tokens out of thin air using artificial withdrawal proofs. However, no users of Binance or its blockchain lost funds in this attack. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said that they managed to prevent around 80% to 90% of the funds from being taken by the hacker. Thus, this was because the BSC validators froze the network after the attack. But the hackers still managed to move about $100 million in funds to other chains.
3. Ronin: $552 million
In 2022 hackers also attacked Ronin, a sidechain of the popular NFT game Axie Infinity, stealing around $552 million worth of Ethereum and USDC. A week later, a reassessment of the attack revealed that the value of the stolen funds had risen to $622 million. How did they do it? Using “hacked private keys” to forge transactions and claim funds. The US Treasury later identified wallet addresses allegedly linked to North Korea’s Lazarus hacking group.
4. Wormhole: $326 million
Decentralized finance protocols have been hit hard this year. So in February, the popular Wormhole bridge was hit by an exploit. In total, the exploration earned the hackers about US$ 326 million.
5. Nomad: $190 million
Another bridge was hit in August. So Nomad, which allows users to move digital assets between different blockchains, lost all their funds – held in Ethereum, USDC, DAI, FXS and CQT – after hackers took advantage of a bug in the update. After the protocol offered a 10% bounty to the hackers they started to return the tokens. Read also: Stablecoin volume hits record R$38 trillion in 2022 Read also: 8 tips to stay safe in the crypto market Read also: What to expect from Polygon in 2023
