Cryptocurrency sector endures $1.53 billion loss in February, primarily attributed to Bybit hack incident.
In a discretionary revelation by Immunefi, the crypto world witnessed a staggering $1.53 billion loot from hacks in February – a monumental 20-fold increase compared to the previous month's losses of mere $73.9 million. A significant leap when we consider the losses from the same period last year stood at a measly $81.6 million, depicting a startling surge of 18 times.
Leaving out the Bybit episode, the crypto market's losses for that month dwindled to a considerably lower $68.3 million. This significant breach marked the largest ever in the history of centralized exchanges, overshadowing the thefts on Coincheck in 2018 ($534 million), Mt. Gox in 2014 ($470 million), and FTX in 2022 ($415 million), which occurred during the exchange's insolvency proceedings.
Apart from the Bybit catastrophe, other DeFi protocols like Infini, zkLend, Ionic Money, Cardex, Four.Meme, Cashverse, BankX, and GoldReserve NFT also fell victim to hackers during that period.
Sadly, the Immunefi report failed to record any instances of fraud during this time.
Earlier reports from EmberCN suggest that around 18% of the plundered Bybit funds were laundered by the attackers. Coincidentally, on the same day, Bybit repaid a 40,000 ETH loan to Bitget.
The enigmatic cypherpunk, Adam Back, opined that the incident was rooted in an error in the EVM design, while analysts at Sygnia pointed their fingers at a vulnerability within Safe's infrastructure.
Despite my comprehensive search, I couldn't find conclusive evidence of a crypto industry heist amounting to $1.53 billion in February 2023. If there's more context or details, it could aid further research.
The cybersecurity concerns in the crypto industry expanded in February 2023, as hackers targeted multiple DeFi protocols, including Infini, zkLend, Ionic Money, Cardex, Four.Meme, Cashverse, BankX, and GoldReserve NFT, causing significant losses. This escalation in cybersecurity threats also highlighted the vast potential for financial losses in the NFT industry. In light of these events, the need for enhanced cybersecurity measures in the burgeoning technology-driven finance sector becomes increasingly apparent.
