Crypto Chaos: January’s Hilarious Heist Hits $73.9 Million! 💸😂

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So, January 2025 decided to kick off the year with a bang—like a toddler with a firecracker! 💥 Crypto hacks skyrocketed, racking up a jaw-dropping $73.9 million in losses across 19 incidents, as reported by our friends at Immunefi. Who knew the new year would come with such a *generous* gift for hackers? 🎁

Now, hold onto your wallets, because that figure is a whopping ninefold increase from December! But wait, there’s a twist—it’s still a 44.6% drop from January 2024, when hackers were feeling particularly generous, stealing a staggering $133.4 million. Talk about a rollercoaster of emotions! 🎢

Our not-so-favorite exchange, Singapore-based Phemex, took the cake (or should I say, the entire bakery?) with a $69.1 million breach. During this delightful escapade, hackers had a field day, exploiting Phemex’s hot wallet and making off with funds across Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), XRP (XRP), and Bitcoin (BTC). I mean, who needs a heist movie when you have this? 🍿

Analysts are pointing fingers at North Korea, suggesting that the stolen stablecoins were swiftly converted to Ethereum to dodge the blacklist. Because, you know, nothing says “I’m innocent” like a quick currency swap! 🙄

CeFi vs. DeFi: The Showdown

In the epic battle of Centralized Finance (CeFi) vs. Decentralized Finance (DeFi), CeFi took the crown (and the losses), making up a staggering 93.5% of total losses. Meanwhile, DeFi had a mere 6.5% of the stolen funds, with 18 attacks. It’s like the tortoise and the hare, but the tortoise is just really, really slow. 🐢💨

This massive gap is mostly thanks to our dear friend Phemex. And guess what? Fraud didn’t even get a look-in this month; hacking was the only game in town. 🎮

BNB Chain was the most popular target in January 2025, accounting for 50% of total losses with 10 attacks. Ethereum followed closely with six incidents, racking up 25% of the losses. It’s like a popularity contest, but instead of votes, it’s just hackers having a field day! 🎉

Arbitrum and Base each had two attacks, while Optimism was the lucky one with just a single breach. I guess some blockchains are just more *optimistic* than others! 😅

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2025-01-30 22:13