In September, the cryptocurrency world witnessed over $332 million in digital asset losses due to exploits, hacks, and scams, bringing the total for 2023 to over $1.3 billion, according to Certik.
September proved to be a grim month for the cryptocurrency market as digital assets worth over $332 million were drained from trading platforms, victims of various malicious tactics including flash loan attacks, exit scams, and exploits. The most significant losses came from exploits, which accounted for a staggering $329.8 million, whereas flash loan attacks and rug pulls contributed less than $2.4 million to the total.
The standout incident was the $200 million exploit that hit Mixin Network on September 23, making it the most significant hack of the month. Notably, Mixin Network’s team appealed to the attackers, offering a bug bounty reward in exchange for the return of the remaining user funds.
Combining all the incidents in September we’ve confirmed ~$332M lost to exploits, hacks and scams.
Exit scams were ~$1.9M
Flash loans were ~$0.4M
Exploits were ~$329.8M
See more details below 👇 pic.twitter.com/DMFN9LWU8V
— CertiK Alert (@CertiKAlert) September 30, 2023
Coinex Global also fell victim to an exploit earlier in the month, losing $54 million. Initial findings suggested a possible compromise of private keys, enabling criminals to access funds from the platform’s hot wallets.
While August saw over $26 million in losses due to exit scams, this figure dwindled to $1.9 million in September. Similarly, the value of losses from flash loan attacks decreased from $6.4 million in August to $0.4 million in September.
Certik’s data reveals that the cumulative loss from digital asset platforms in 2023 has now surpassed $1.3 billion, a significant increase from the just under one billion dollars reported in August.
