Crypto Heists Skyrocket: $2.5 Billion Stolen in First Half of 2025

Unprecedented Surge in Crypto Thefts

Holy smokes, folks! The crypto world is on fire with nearly $2.5 billion swiped in just the first six months of 2025! We're talking 290 jaw-dropping incidents that've already blown past the total losses of all last year.

Where Did the Money Go?

Get this: compromised wallets led the charge, bleeding over $1.7 billion in 34 crazy heists. Phishing scams weren't far behind, snagging more than $410 million in 132 sneaky attacks. And don't even get me started on code vulnerabilities—those cost over $283 million in 114 incidents. Exit scams and price manipulation? They were less frequent but still pulled off nearly $20 million in damages. And access control exploits? They racked up $42 million in losses.

2025's Half-Year Haul Surpasses 2024's Total

Believe it or not, the first half of 2025 has already outstripped the $2.42 billion lost in all of 2024. Even after clawing back some frozen funds, we're staring at $2.29 billion in net losses, topping last year's adjusted total of $1.98 billion.

Two Mega Heists Dominate Losses

Hold onto your hats—72% of this year's losses, a whopping $1.78 billion, came from just two colossal hacks: the Bybit fiasco in Q1 and the Cetus protocol nightmare in Q2. Without these two, we'd be looking at "only" $690 million in losses for the first half.

Quarterly Breakdown: Q1 vs. Q2

Q1 was a bloodbath, with $1.67 billion in losses—over double Q2's $801 million. Sure, things slowed down in the second quarter, but a few major incidents still packed a punch.

Q2's Attack Vectors

Phishing was the go-to scam in Q2, snatching over $395 million in 52 incidents. Code vulnerabilities and access control weaknesses followed, costing $235.7 million and $36.1 million, respectively. Wallet compromises, which rocked Q1, still hit hard, causing $112 million in losses from 9 incidents in Q2.

Notable Q2 Breaches

While the Bybit breach remains the year's biggest bummer, Q2 had its own share of high-stakes drama. We're talking the $225.6 million Cetus exploit, the $89.1 million hack of Iran's Nobitex exchange, and a $16.1 million hit on ALEX Lab.

Other Incidents

Don't forget the chaos at Bitopro, Cork Protocol, KiloEx, and zkSync-based projects—all thanks to smart contract flaws, infrastructure breaches, or compromised wallets.

Targeted Blockchains

Ethereum took the hardest hit, losing more than $1.58 billion across 164 incidents. Bitcoin? It wasn't far behind, with over $373 million lost in just 10 incidents.

Recovered Funds

Here's a glimmer of hope: $187 million in stolen funds got returned in the first half of the year, adjusting total losses to just over $2.28 billion. And guess what? Q2 alone saw $180 million recovered.

Comparison to Other Reports

Another analysis by TRM Labs pegged crypto losses at $2.1 billion across 75 incidents in the same period, mostly due to infrastructure-level breaches like private key thefts and front-end hijacks.