According to thorough research by SlowMist, Ethereum, the top blockchain platform, saw the largest losses in 2023, mostly attributable to rug pulls, hacks, and cryptocurrency scams. The research sheds light on the dangers and difficulties faced by blockchain projects by offering insights into the security events that took place inside the cryptocurrency ecosystem over the previous year.

Principal Discoveries of the SlowMist Report:

464 Security Incidents: 464 security incidents with losses of approximately $2.5 billion were reported in 2023. Even though this estimate shows a 34.2% drop in losses from 2022, the volume of occurrences highlights the ongoing difficulties in the field of crypto security.

Attack on Decentralized Finance (DeFi): Of all the project kinds, DeFi projects turned out to be the most frequently attacked industry, with over 280 security incidents. These incidents constituted 60.7% of the total and caused $773 million in losses.

Reduction in DeFi Losses Year-Over-Year: Despite the DeFi industry’s high number of events, the financial cost dropped by 62.7% annually. Losses in 2022 were close to $2 billion, and in 2023 they were $773 million.

Ethereum Takes the Brunt: With $487 million in losses, Ethereum suffered the worst losses of any blockchain platform. The losses’ main causes were hackers, rug pulls, and cryptocurrency frauds. Polygon too suffered large losses of $123 million.

Exit Scams Predominate: With 110 cases totaling almost $83 million in value, exit scams emerged as the most common cause of loss. Attacks leveraging compromised accounts came right after these schemes.

Marketwide Recovery Efforts: In 2023, the cryptocurrency industry suffered losses of $2 billion. However, experts in cybersecurity and white hat hackers were instrumental in helping to recover almost $200 million of that total. This cooperative endeavor underscores the significance of a proactive security strategy within the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

As the cryptocurrency industry develops further, solving security issues becomes critical. The SlowMist report is an invaluable tool for comprehending the dynamics of security events, enabling the sector to put strong safeguards in place to protect users and blockchain projects.