More than $1 Billion in Losses: an overview of the Biggest Crypto Platform Hacks in 2023

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2023 helped hackers get a large reward for their work.

2023 was marked by a series of large-scale cyber attacks on the cryptocurrency industry, as a result of which more than $1 billion was stolen. Hackers became especially active at the end of the year, amid the recovery of the market after the fall in 2022. The most significant hacks affected large decentralized financial protocols and crypto exchanges.

• Mixin: the biggest hack of the year, worth $200 million. In September 2023, the Mixin platform lost $200 million due to a hack of their cloud service. The stolen funds were never returned, although the company promised to reimburse users for half of the losses.
• Euler Finance: A $197 million hack and an unexpected refund. Euler Finance lost almost $200 million in March. The uniqueness of this case is that a few weeks after the hack, almost half of the stolen funds were returned to the platform along with an apology note.
• Poloniex: theft of more than $100 million. In November, the Poloniex exchange lost more than $100 million. The owner of the crypto exchange, Justin Sun, promised full compensation for losses and even offered hackers $10 million for a refund.
• MultiChain: "pulling the rug" for $125 million In July, MultiChain reported suspicious withdrawals of $125 million, which led to the arrest of their CEO in China and the subsequent closure of the project.
• Atomic Wallet: a $35 million hack. In June, the hacking of the Atomic Wallet crypto wallet led to a loss of $35 million, and subsequent analysis led to the traces of the Lazarus group.
• CoinEx: theft of $70 million. In September, the CoinEx crypto exchange lost, according to the latest data, $70 million, allegedly as a result of the actions of the Lazarus group from North Korea.
• CyberSwap: a $47 million hack. Representatives of the decentralized exchange KyberSwap on November 23 reported on the hacking of the Elastic Pools liquidity pool, as a result of which the hacker withdrew about $47 million.
• Stake: loss of $41 million. Hackers attacked a cryptocurrency gambling platform Stake.com and they stole assets worth $41.3 million. The platform developers confirmed the incident and stated that the hacked funds were withdrawn from the service's hot wallets in the ETH (Ethereum) and BSC (Binance Smart Chain) networks.

North Korea's Lazarus Group remains one of the key players in the cryptocurrency hacking industry, responsible for more than $300 million worth of thefts in 2023. The events highlight the importance of cybersecurity in the crypto industry and raise concerns about the future of 2024, which promises to be even more tense in light of the expected launch of bitcoin ETFs and bitcoin halving.