Crypto World Loses $1.46B to Hackers in 2025: North Korea Linked to 30 Attacks
The crypto world has witnessed a surge in hacking incidents this year, with a staggering record of over $1.46 billion stolen. Multiple DeFi projects, including LND.fi and WOO X, have fallen victim. Notably, the February Bybit heist alone accounted for a significant portion of this amount. Hackers have evolved their tactics, moving away from technical exploits to more sophisticated methods. Social engineering, tricking individuals into granting access to funds, has become a popular approach. Furthermore, hackers are employing multi-stage asset mixing, lesser-known blockchains, and cross-chain transactions to launder money and obscure the origin of funds. Blockchain analysis firm Elliptic has attributed over 30 hacks of cryptocurrency projects to North Korea this year, highlighting the growing threat from state-sponsored cybercrime. In September, Sber, a major Russian bank, evaluated the damage from cyberattacks to the Russian economy, underscoring the global impact of these incidents. The crypto industry faces a daunting challenge in 2025, with record-breaking thefts and increasingly sophisticated hacking methods. North Korea's involvement in these attacks, as identified by Elliptic, adds a geopolitical dimension to the issue. As the crypto world continues to grow, so too does the need for robust security measures and international cooperation to combat these threats.
