Crypto Hacks Surge 131% in Q1 2025, Bybit Breach Drives $1.63 Billion Losses

Crypto hacks in the first quarter of 2025 reached a staggering $1.63 billion, marking a 131% increase from the same period in 2024. This surge was predominantly driven by the Bybit breach, which accounted for 92% of the total losses. The Bybit exploit, one of the largest crypto thefts to date, resulted in a significant portion of the $1.53 billion lost in February alone. Other notable incidents in February included a $50 million exploit targeting Infini, a $9.5 million hack on zkLend, and an $8.5 million loss from Ionic, contributing to the overall $126 million in losses that month.

The trend of crypto hacks saw a dramatic shift in March, with losses plummeting by 97% compared to February. PeckShield reported that only $33 million in crypto assets were stolen during this period. Interestingly, some funds were recovered, which helped mitigate the damage to users and protocols. The largest incident in March involved a $13 million exploit of the decentralized finance protocol Abracadabra.Money, where an attacker drained 6,260 Ether (ETH) from the protocol on March 25. The second-biggest incident was an $8.4 million hack on the real-world asset (RWA) restaking protocol Zoth, where an attacker withdrew funds and converted them into a stablecoin before transferring them to another address.

Despite the significant losses, there were instances where assets were returned. On March 7, a crypto hacker who stole $5 million from decentralized exchange (DEX) 1inch returned 90% of the funds. This return was facilitated by a 10% bounty offered by the DEX, worth $500,000, in exchange for the rest of the crypto assets. The hacker complied and sent back $4.5 million to 1inch, demonstrating a rare instance of cooperation between hackers and affected platforms.

The first quarter of 2025 saw over 60 crypto hacks, highlighting the persistent threat to the crypto ecosystem. The $1.63 billion loss in Q1 2025 represented a 131% year-over-year increase from the first quarter of 2024, when losses reached $706 million. This trend underscores the need for enhanced security measures and vigilance within the crypto community to protect against such exploits.