Crypto hacks dropped by half in 2025, but the data reveals a much deadlier financial threat

In 2025, the number of crypto security incidents dropped by half to about 200, but total losses escalated to nearly $2.935 billion, largely due to a single $1.46 billion theft from the Bybit exchange attributed to state-sponsored actors. This shift indicates that attackers moved away from low-value targets to focus on high-value centralized chokepoints, resulting in the average loss per incident more than doubling to almost $15 million. Centralized exchanges accounted for $1.809 billion in losses across just 22 incidents, far surpassing the $649 million lost across 126 DeFi incidents. The threat landscape was further industrialized by organized crime syndicates utilizing Malware-as-a-Service and sophisticated phishing tools powered by AI, leading to a closing gap between technical exploits and identity risks. Regulatory response intensified, with authorities focusing on infrastructure and laundering hubs, leading to significant stablecoin freezes by issuers like Tether and Circle, which recovered $387 million across major incidents. The resilience of top-tier platforms like Bybit suggests they can absorb massive losses, but this concentration of risk means security and compliance are now mandatory for market access.

(Source：CryptoSlate)