Crypto Security: August Saw Lowest YTD Loss – 100% DeFi Hacks, No Fraud or CeFi Attacks

August seems to have been a better month for crypto security. Compared to previous months, it saw the lowest loss this year, according to the latest report by major bug bounty and security services platform Immunefi .

August witnessed hackers taking $15,082,000 in five specific incidents.

The majority was lost in the hacks of a gaming-focused Ronin Network , which saw a loss of $12 million, and a DeFi protocol Nexera , recording a loss of $1.5 million.

The $15 million marks the lowest loss year-to-date (YTD), the Immunefi team said.

Furthermore, this is a 94.5% decrease month-over-month.

It is also a notable 38% decrease from August 2023. At the time, registered losses stood at $24,581,220.

In total, the ecosystem lost a whopping $1,210,741,330 YTD in 154 specific incidents.

Notably, May alone witnessed over $358 million stolen. This is the highest monthly loss YTD.

Source: Immunefi

May’s loss is followed by $274 million lost in July this year.

January, March, and June stand on a similar level, recording a loss between $133.2 million and $141.5 million.

Though not even close to August, February and April also saw lower stolen sums compared to other months this year, sitting at the two ends of the $70 million level.

100% DeFi Hacks

Centralized finance (CeFi) didn’t sit long at the top per the total volume of funds lost.

In August, decentralized finance (DeFi) surpassed it again. What’s more, 100% of funds were lost in DeFi-related attacks.

This means that DeFi alone suffered the $15 million loss across 5 incidents.

There were no reported CeFi incidents in August.

At the same time, we see no fraud, only hacks.

Source: Immunefi

While hacks continued to be the predominant cause of losses compared to fraud, in August, 100% of the total losses and crypto security breaches were hack-related.

This means that the entire $15 million loss and the five incidents were hacks alone.

Unsurprisingly, the most targeted chains in August were Ethereum and BNB Chain .

Ethereum suffered 3 attacks, resulting in 60% of the total losses.

BNB Chain suffered 2 attacks, or 40% of the total losses.