According to CryptoPotato, the first quarter of 2024 saw more than $824 million lost across 67 hacking incidents, with high-profile individuals and projects being the primary targets. The most common type of hack was breaches in access control, which accounted for 83% of the total funds stolen, or $682 million, spread across 26 separate incidents. Four major incidents alone made up 66% of the total losses, including a $290 million breach at gaming platform Playdapp, a $112 million incident involving Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen’s wallet, an $80 million hack of the Orbit chain bridge, and a $63 million exploit of Munchables, a Web3 gaming protocol on Blast.
Token projects were heavily targeted, with 19 reported incidents, followed by other projects with 10 incidents and lending protocols with 9 incidents. Gaming platforms, particularly Playdapp, suffered the most significant financial hits, followed by Munchables. Breached wallets belonging to notable individuals, DAOs, tokens, bridges, and CeFi platforms made up the second-largest category of losses, with incidents involving figures like Chris Larsen, Jeffrey Zirlin, and AirDAO.
Despite the significant losses, approximately $444 million was successfully recovered or frozen from various hacks and exploits, equivalent to 54% of the amount stolen. This recovery effort marks a significant advancement in the industry’s responsiveness to such incidents. Measures such as hackers returning funds for bounties, as seen in the Seneca Protocol hack and Dolomite case, and intervention by white hat hackers, such as @coffeebabe_eth disrupting and returning funds in the Blueberry protocol hack, contributed to this recovery. The proactive steps taken by project teams and white hat hackers played a crucial role in recovering stolen funds and minimizing further disruptions. Edgar Pavlovski, Hacken’s Senior Blockchain Researcher, noted that while the total amount hacked was substantial, recovering more than half of the stolen funds represents a significant positive development for security and resilience in the industry.