Crypto Hacks Surge in H1 2025, Surpassing 2024 Losses as CertiK Logs $184M in Recoveries

Crypto scammers have evolved their tactics. According to a recent report by the blockchain security firm CertiK, crypto hacks have evolved into social engineering of victims to reveal sensitive information instead of targeting contract vulnerabilities.

So far in 2025, more than $2.2 billion has been stolen from investors by crypto hackers. The report by CertiK suggests that a sizeable chunk of these crypto hacks have come from phishing attacks and wallet compromises.

Additionally, the report emphasises that a few major incidents among numerous hacks have caused significant losses and can be traced back to state-backed perpetrators or critical infrastructure flaws.

Notably, CertiK mentions that the attacks on Bybit and Cetus Protocol have somewhat skewed the data since they accounted for about $1.78 billion of total losses, pushing these 2025 numbers above last year.

Bybit suffered the biggest attack on its assets this year in February 2025, which left a $1.5 billion hole in its pocket.

In the case of Cetus Protocol, a decentralised exchange based on Sui, the hackers used spoofed tokens and price manipulation to drain liquidity, leading to a loss of $225 million. Sui validators were able to freeze and return $162 million from the larger stolen amount.

#CertiKInsight

Thus far in 2025, on-chain incidents have led to ~$2.1B in losses.

The majority of losses have come from wallet compromises and phishing, with an increase in data leaks its important to remain vigilant. pic.twitter.com/Cjm6QFHWqX

— CertiK Alert (@CertiKAlert) May 23, 2025

Phishing attacks entail crypto scammers sharing deceptive links with the victims to get hold of their sensitive information, such as private keys to crypto wallets, etc.

Ronghui Gu, the co-founder of CertiK, believes that the rise in phishing attacks that socially engineer victims to share sensitive information alludes to crypto scammers changing their attack protocols.

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Trend of Wallet Breaches Becomes Alarming

The report suggests that between January and June of 2025, crypto hackers carried out 334 attacks, amounting to a loss of $2.47 billion. Amongst these incidents, wallet breaches alone accounted for $1.7 billion from just 34 attacks.

While CertiK has noted that private key compromises are on the decline, it has called the trend of wallet breaches “alarming.”

Social engineering schemes have become a major threat. Schemes such as address poisoning do not require any hacking since the victim is tricked into sending assets to fraudulent wallet addresses. Case in point, a Bitcoin whale falling victim to a phishing scam on 30 April 2025, that cost him an eye-watering $330 million loss.

Discounting the high-profile attacks on these two exchanges brings total losses to about $690 million, which is quite similar to last year, with Ethereum being the most targeted blockchain, witnessing 175 security-related events, accounting for over $1.6 billion in losses.

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Crypto Hacks Exploit Code Vulnerabilities

CertiK reported a dramatic rise in crypto losses driven by smart contract flaws in May, raking $229 million in damages, up from just $5 million in April.

1/ Top threats in Q2:

• Phishing – $395M
• Code vulnerabilities – $236M
• Wallet compromise – $112M

Despite the losses, total incidents dropped by 29% QoQ.

— CertiK (@CertiK) June 30, 2025

As scams and hacks surge, physical attacks on private crypto holders are growing more brutal. According to Jameson Lopp, a bitcoin security advocate, this year has already seen reports of 32 wrench attacks (physical attacks), putting 2025 on track to surpass 2021’s record of 36. Nearly one-third occurred in France.

In May alone, French authorities arrested 25 suspects tied to a Paris-based kidnapping ring.

Notable cases include the January kidnapping and mutilation of Ledger co-founder David Balland during a failed ransom attempt, impostors posing as couriers abducted a trader’s father, severed a finger, and demanded €7 million, kidnappers attempted to take Paymium CEO Pierre Noizat’s daughter and grandson, and abductors in Las Vegas drove the victim into the Arizona desert.

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