Crypto Crime Losses Surge to $3.6billion Despite Fewer Incidents: Crystal Report

The report, which analyses over 1,000 confirmed incidents of hacks, fraud, and decentralised finance (DeFi) breaches since June 2011, provides a detailed overview of digital asset crime trends. It is intended to support compliance teams, law enforcement and regulators in understanding the evolving risk outlook. The total value stolen since 2011 now stands at over $22.7billion.

Fewer incidents, higher losses

Covering the period from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, the report identified a trend of declining incident volume alongside rising financial losses. A total of 184 incidents were recorded during this period. The increase in the total value stolen was largely attributed to a small number of high-value thefts.

The most significant event was the $1.5billion exploit of crypto exchange Bybit in February 2025, which the report identifies as the largest single crypto theft ever recorded. According to the analysis, attackers exploited a JavaScript poisoning vulnerability within Bybit’s safe interface to hijack the multisignature approval process.

Breakdown by attack type

The report categorises the incidents into three main types. Security breaches accounted for the largest share of financial losses, with 56 incidents resulting in $2.5 billion stolen, nearly 70 per cent of the annual total.

DeFi breaches saw a decline in both frequency and value, with 75 incidents totalling $372.8million in losses, down from $577.5million in the previous year. Fraud incidents, including investment scams and address manipulation schemes, also dropped to 53 cases. However, the total financial loss from fraud remained significant at $716million.

Other major incidents detailed in the report include the July 2024 attack on Indian exchange WazirX, which resulted in a $230million loss from its multisig wallet infrastructure, and a memecoin rug pull in Argentina that caused $250million in losses.

Ethereum remains the primary target

Ethereum continued to be the most targeted blockchain, involved in 98 incidents and accounting for $2billion in losses over the last year. The report notes that Ethereum was central to the largest thefts and frauds, and was involved in nearly all mixer-based laundering activity.

The report concludes with a series of recommendations for financial crime investigators and compliance professionals. These include enhanced monitoring of wallet behaviour to flag laundering attempts, increased awareness of interface-level manipulation tactics, and a call for greater industry collaboration in responding to large-scale incidents in real-time.

Credit source: This article was originally published on TheFintechTimes