Over $100 Million Worth of Crypto Lost in April due to Hacks and Exploits: CertiK

According to the blockchain and smart contract security firm Certified Kernel Tech (better known as CertiK), crypto-related exploits, hacks, and scams in April resulted in losses worth $103 million.

The figures for last month are a lot less than the $211 million worth of digital assets which wrongdoers siphoned throughout March 2023.

Summarizing the Incidents in April

CertiK estimated that the total amount hackers managed to drain last month from crypto projects was approximately $103.6 million worth of digital assets. Exit scams resulted in 9.3 million, while flash loan attacks accounted for almost $20 million. 

Some of the major incidents in April include the $25 million stolen from a large Ethereum Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) bot that became a victim of a so-called “sandwich attack.” The event occurs when a perpetrator exploits liquidity cracks to execute profitable trades at the expense of vulnerable users. 

The hack on the Bitrue exchange is also worth mentioning. The company suffered a “brief exploit” in one of its hot wallets at the beginning of last month, resulting in losses of $23 million worth of ETH, QNT, GALA, SHIB, HOT, and MATIC. Bitrue paused withdrawals until April 18 “to conduct additional security checks” and assured that the remaining wallets were unaffected.

Another crypto exchange that faced the same issue was the South Korean GDAC. Attackers compromised the Gdac Hot Wallet on April 10 and pocketed over 60 BTC, 350.5 ETH, 10,000,000 WEMIX, and 220,000 USDT (collectively valued at $13 million at that time). The stolen amount accounted for around 23% of the platform’s total assets.

GDAC took emergency measures and halted deposits and withdrawals shortly after identifying the hack. It also collaborated with Korean agencies and rival companies to detect the criminals and resume operations. 

Other incidents that happened last month include the $10.2 million Yearn Finance exploit, the $7.5 million Hundred Finance attack, the $3.3 million SushiSwap hack, and more.

The March Figures Were Even Worse

While last month’s data regarding hacks and exploits in the world of crypto might look grim, it is actually much better than March. Back then, wrongdoers stole $211.5 million worth of digital currencies via 26 attacks. 

The Euler Finance exploit that resulted in almost $200 million in losses comprised 93% of the total amount. Hackers breached the security of the DeFi protocol in mid-March and drained the tokens in a flash loan attack.

Nonetheless, the perpetrator, going by the name “Jacob,” started sending back some of the assets by the end of the month and even apologized for the crime. The whole drama was over at the beginning of April when the exploiter returned all the funds.