It was not just another bad year. 2025 delivered a stark reminder that in the world of crypto, the cybersecurity war not only continues, but is becoming more expensive, more targeted and more dangerous than ever.
The return of the crypto slaughter
The years go by, but the scourge of hacks remains. In 2022, losses reached $3.7 billion, in 2023 there was a deceptive breather with $1.7 billion, in 2024 losses climbed again to $2.2 billion. Then 2025 arrived to confirm that nothing is over: $3.4 billion in cryptocurrencies were stolen in a single year.
Methods evolve, targets change, but the goal remains the same: the looting of digital wealth.
Big game hunting: When hackers go after “whales”
In 2025, small-scale attacks faded into the background. Hackers turned to big game, centralized platforms managing the funds of thousands of users. The outcome was devastating.
According to Chainalysis, just three attacks accounted for 69% of total losses for the year.
The most striking was the Bybit hack, which alone caused losses of $1.4 billion.
The attacks were not based solely on technical flaws, but primarily on human error, poor privilege management and internal weaknesses. As Andrew Fierman, head of national security at Chainalysis, notes, one or two massive hacks are enough to shatter any annual record, and nothing suggests the phenomenon will ease in 2026.
North Korea: The state machine behind the largest looting
Among the most active “players” of 2025, North Korea clearly stands out.
The Pyongyang regime is reported to have stolen more than $2.02 billion in crypto, marking a 51% increase compared with 2024.
North Korean hackers no longer limit themselves to simple breaches. They infiltrate Web3 companies posing as developers, recruiters or investors, gain critical access, copy code and exploit third-party providers. This is followed by an extremely complex money-laundering process, lasting up to 45 days, via DeFi, bridges and platforms mainly in Asia.
As Andrew Fierman stresses, this is a form of “shadow war,” with crypto as the battlefield.
Personal wallets: The invisible threat that surged
Behind the spectacular platform hacks, a less visible but equally worrying reality is unfolding. In 2025, 158,000 breaches of personal wallets were recorded, almost three times as many as in 2022, with around 80,000 unique victims.
Although the amount lost per user was smaller, total losses reached $713 million.
The Ethereum and Tron networks were at the center, most likely due to their massive use and the sheer number of applications that increase attack surfaces.
DeFi: Unexpected resilience
Contrary to the image of generalized collapse, the DeFi sector showed remarkable resilience.
The total value locked in DeFi protocols exceeded $119 billion, without being accompanied by a new wave of major attacks.
This difference is attributed to the use of preventive security tools and real-time monitoring systems, allowing rapid responses before damage spirals out of control.
An ecosystem on constant alert
Crypto hacks are not going to disappear. They mutate, adapt and strike where vigilance slips.
2025 proved that the threat is more organized and more strategic than ever.
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