2022 saw billions of losses to DeFi and crypto exploits. Only 5.2% of the losses were recovered, according to a report by Immunefi.
According to a forecast released on January 6 by security services platform for web3, Immunefi, a platform for bug bounties and security services for the Web3 ecosystem, the cryptocurrency market would lose a total of 3.9 billion dollars in 2022.
The research states that hacks, which accounted for 95.6% of the total losses, were the primary cause, with fraud, scams, and rug pulls accounting for the remaining 4.4%.
Immunefi also discovered that the most targeted industry was decentralized finance (DeFi), which lost 80.5% of its value, as opposed to centralized finance (CeFi), which lost 19.5%. As stated in the report:
“DeFi has suffered $3,180,023,103 in total losses in 2022, across 155 incidents. This number represents a 56.2% increase compared to 2021, when DeFi lost $2,036,015,896, in 107 incidents”
The most targeted chains were BNB and Ethereum, with BNB Chain overtaking Ethereum to take the title in 2022. The industry saw losses of about 1.6 billion dollars in Q4 2022, with DeFi and CeFi being the main targets at 57.6% and 42.4%, respectively. Immunefi CEO Mitchell Amador stated:
“By proactively identifying and addressing vulnerabilities, we can protect the community from harm and build trust in the field. As we make the industry safer, everything else can flourish.”
According to CertiK, an on-chain monitoring and bug bounty company, the number of December DeFi exploits was the lowest in 2022.
This information was published in the Finance Redefined newsletter on January 5. For the 2022 holidays, it seems like bitcoin hackers and exploiters may have paused down. $62 million worth of money was taken from decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols in December 2022.
Security experts cautioned that even while this number was fewer than in recent months, the ecosystem will still experience an increase in exploits, flash loans, and exit scams in 2023.
