Record $2.1 Billion in Crypto Stolen in First Half of 2025
In the first half of 2025, bad actors managed to siphon roughly $2.1 billion worth of crypto across 75 incidents, marking a new record in crypto theft.
The majority of these losses, as reported by blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs, were a result of infrastructure attacks targeting the technical backbone of crypto systems. Exploits such as private key thefts, seed phrase compromises, and front-end hijacks accounted for over 80% of all stolen funds, yielding 10 times more in value on average compared to other methods.
The largest incident in 2025 was the $1.5 billion breach of Dubai-based crypto exchange Bybit in February, attributed to North Korean hackers. This hack alone made up nearly 70% of the total losses for the year, skewing the average hack size to $30 million, double the average from the previous year.
Another significant attack was the exploit of Iran’s largest crypto exchange, Nobitex, by hacker group Gonjeshke Darande in June, resulting in the theft of over $90 million. The funds were then transferred to unspendable vanity addresses.
State-Sponsored Attacks on the Rise
TRM Labs highlighted that state-sponsored crypto attacks now make up the majority of global losses, with geopolitical motives driving illicit activities. North Korea remains a dominant force in this arena, but incidents like the Nobitex hack by the reportedly Israel-linked group suggest that other state actors are also leveraging crypto hacks for geopolitical ends.
Protocol-level exploits, including flash loans and re-entrancy attacks targeting vulnerabilities in smart contracts or protocol logic, accounted for 12% of the total losses in the first half of 2025.
The $2.1 billion stolen in the first six months of 2025 represents a 10% increase over the previous record set in 2022 and nearly matches the total losses recorded for the entire year of 2024.
Industry Response and Recommendations
TRM Labs urged the industry to adopt stronger security measures such as multi-factor authentication, storing funds in cold wallets, conducting regular security audits, and implementing countermeasures against insider threats and social engineering.
Crypto hacks have posed a consistent threat to the industry, with over $1.63 billion in losses reported in the first quarter of 2025. Centralized exchanges bore the brunt of these attacks, accounting for 94% of the total losses, primarily due to incidents like Bybit and Phemex.