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Crypto Investors Lost $2.5B to Hacks and Scams in the First Half of 2025: Certik

The majority of incidents took place on the Ethereum network, followed by Bitcoin.

Updated Jul 4, 2025, 3:30 p.m. Published Jul 1, 2025, 12:17 p.m.
Under a low-light red lamp, a pair of hands types on a keyboard. (Wesley Tingey/Unsplash+)
(Wesley Tingey/Unsplash+)

What to know:

  • Over $2.47 billion in cryptocurrency was stolen in the first half of 2025 —surpassing all of 2024 — driven largely by two major incidents: the Bybit breach and Cetus Protocol exploit, totaling $1.78 billion.
  • Wallet compromises accounted for $1.7 billion in losses, while phishing attacks led to $410 million stolen across 132 incidents.
  • Ethereum was the most targeted blockchain with $1.5 billion stolen in 164 incidents; however, the second quarter saw a 52% drop in losses compared to the first three months of the year.

Hackers stole more than $2.47 billion worth of cryptocurrency in the first half of 2025, already exceeding last year's total of $2.42 billion, according to Certik's Hack3d Report.

The majority of that figure can be attributed to two incidents; the Bybit breach and the Cetus Protocol exploit that combined were worth $1.78 billion.

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Wallet compromise was the key attack vectors for hackers in the first half of this year, contributing to $1.7 billion worth of losses, while phishing was still rampant resulting in $410 million stolen across 132 incidents.

Phishing is a technique hackers use to steal a victim's password or credentials in order to access an account.

“While the overall figures are alarming, it is important to point out that the majority of the funds lost in H1 were attributable to two concentrated, high-impact events,” said CertiK co-founder Ronghui Gu.

“But regardless, the results serve as another reminder to the industry that there is still much work to be done,” Gu added.

The report also found that $801 million was lost in Q2 alone, a 52% decrease from the previous quarter. The majority of hacks took place on Ethereum, with $1.5 billion stolen across 164 incidents, followed by Bitcoin with $373 million stolen across 10 incidents.

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