Note that the methods of hackers’ activity do change over time. For example, at the beginning of the summer we learned about a scheme called “pig slaughtering”. In this case, it involves getting to know a potential victim through the use of appropriate applications.

Then there is a lengthy communication between the parties to the interaction, with a romantic component. Finally, the scammer eventually offers to invest in a particular blockchain project using a particular copy platform, or even by simply sending money to the hacker’s wallet. Naturally, at this stage, the communication breaks down.

Cryptocurrency Fraudsters

As we found out earlier, something like this can take anywhere from a few weeks to months. In doing so, scammers sometimes make millions of dollars. Read more about this in a separate article.

How much money is lost on cryptocurrencies

According to CryptoSlate sources, there were 251 hacking attacks in 2021 with a total loss of $3.2 billion. Meanwhile, by mid-June 2022, there had already been only 65 hacking attacks with $1.7 billion in damage. Here is an expert commentary on the matter.

Although the number of cryptocurrency-related hacks is falling sharply in 2022, it does not affect the total amount of money stolen despite the market’s decline.

Consequently, hackers have "earned" roughly the same amount of money as they did as of last year, but the overall number of successful scams has declined. It is possible that this is influenced by the general trend in the coin market: given the niche collapse, fewer people interact with cryptocurrencies, and they also trade less frequently. This means that there are also fewer reasons to lose crypto assets.

Number and damage of hacking attacks

Chainalysis analysts note that the average amount of damage per hacker attack has risen to $26.6 million – almost double the same amount as last year. Compared to 2020, the situation looks even worse, with hackers then managing to steal about $4.7 million in a single attack.

Average amount of damage per hacker attack

Conclusion: Attackers have begun to focus more on “quality” than quantity. Also, decentralized protocols remain their main target. Yet DeFi now appears in 97 percent of all hacker attacks this year, up from 72 percent in 2021.

We checked the current data: the biggest hack in the cryptocurrency industry is still considered to be the Ronin Network hack. The total loss in March 2022 was $624 million.

Ranking of hacked blockchain platforms by loss amount

Read also: Hackers are increasingly using Monero in ransomware attacks. What's this about?

Fraud remains no small problem for the industry. One of the most memorable fraud schemes this year was Baller Ape, an NFT project whose name is reminiscent of the name of the legendary Bored Ape Yacht Club crypto project. The US Department of Justice was able to track down its creator, 26-year-old Vietnamese Le Anh Tuan. He has already been charged with stealing more than $2.6 million from investors. According to them Tuan could face up to 40 years in prison, reports CryptoPotato.

To recap, the suspect took his investors’ money the day after selling tokens of his NFT collection and fled into hiding. The project website stopped working, which immediately caused concern for the victims. However, thanks to blockchain analytics experts, law enforcement authorities did manage to pick up Tuan’s trail.


We believe that the rarer, but larger-scale thefts by cryptocurrency hackers can hardly be called a positive trend. Still, there are losses in the niche - and this affects its participants in one way or another. However, it is important to understand that due to the abundance of newcomers in the field, such cases will always be relevant, and the best way to prevent them is to improve knowledge of blockchain and use of hardware wallets.