Crypto Carnage: $2.5 Billion Vanishes in H1 2025—CertiK Sounds Alarm

Crypto's rough ride continues as exploits and rug pulls drain billions—again. Here's the damage report.

Hackers, scammers, and 'oopsie' code flaws feast

CertiK's latest numbers paint a brutal picture: $2.5 billion evaporated before July even hit. DeFi protocols bled the most—turns out 'immutable' smart contracts aren't bulletproof when devs cut corners.

The 'trustless' ecosystem keeps rewarding bad actors

Flash loan attacks? Still trending. Bridge exploits? Basically an ATM for hackers. And let's not pretend those 'high-yield' farms weren't Ponzi schemes with extra steps.

Silver lining? At least Wall Street bankers can't smirk—their 2008 crisis cost 1000x more. Progress?

TLDR

• Crypto investors lost $2.47 billion to hacks and scams in the first half of 2025, already exceeding all of 2024’s losses
• Two major incidents accounted for $1.78 billion: the Bybit breach ($1.5 billion) and Cetus Protocol exploit ($225 million)
• Wallet compromises caused $1.7 billion in losses while phishing attacks resulted in $410 million stolen across 132 incidents
• Ethereum was the most targeted blockchain with $1.5 billion stolen in 164 incidents, followed by Bitcoin with $373 million
• Second quarter losses dropped 52% compared to the first quarter, totaling $801 million across 144 incidents

Cryptocurrency investors lost $2.47 billion to hacks, scams, and exploits in the first six months of 2025, according to blockchain security firm CertiK. This figure already surpasses the entire 2024 total of $2.42 billion.

The massive loss total stems primarily from two major security incidents. The Bybit exchange breach and Cetus Protocol exploit combined accounted for $1.78 billion of the stolen funds.

🚨 The Q2 + H1 2025 Hack3d Report is here.

$2.47B lost in the first half of the year.
$801M lost in Q2 alone.
Phishing and wallet compromise dominated the threat landscape.

Dive into the data👇🧵 pic.twitter.com/Sxa6AGejGK

— CertiK (@CertiK) June 30, 2025

On February 21, attackers exploited vulnerabilities in Bybit’s cold wallet infrastructure and siphoned off $1.5 billion in Ether. The exchange confirmed the breach affected their offline storage systems designed to keep funds secure.

The Cetus Protocol, which operates as the primary decentralized exchange on the sui blockchain, suffered a $225 million hack on May 22. The protocol’s smart contract vulnerabilities allowed attackers to drain funds from the platform.

CertiK co-founder Ronghui Gu noted that while the overall figures appear alarming, the majority of losses came from these two concentrated events. Without these incidents, total losses WOULD have been $690 million, suggesting the broader security landscape may not be deteriorating as severely as the raw numbers suggest.

Attack Methods and Targets

Wallet compromises emerged as the most costly attack vector during this period. These incidents resulted in over $1.7 billion stolen across 34 separate attacks, making them far more damaging than other methods.

Phishing attacks proved to be the most frequent type of security incident. Hackers conducted 132 phishing campaigns that resulted in $410 million in stolen funds, using deceptive techniques to steal user credentials and access accounts.

The ethereum blockchain bore the brunt of these attacks. Hackers targeted the network in 164 separate incidents, resulting in $1.5 billion in losses due to its extensive use in decentralized finance protocols.

Bitcoin ranked as the second most targeted blockchain. Attackers conducted 10 incidents on the Bitcoin network, stealing $373 million worth of the cryptocurrency.

CertiK attributes Ethereum’s popularity among hackers to its dominance in decentralized finance and smart contract activity. Billions of dollars remain locked in Ethereum-based protocols, creating attractive targets for attackers.

Second Quarter Shows Improvement

The second quarter of 2025 showed improvement in security metrics compared to the first three months. Total losses dropped 52% to $801 million across 144 incidents, with 59 fewer hacking incidents than the previous quarter.

This decline suggests that security measures may be improving across the cryptocurrency ecosystem. The reduction in both the number of incidents and total value stolen indicates progress in protecting digital assets.

However, phishing attacks continued to surge throughout the first half of 2025. These campaigns have become increasingly sophisticated, prompting security experts to recommend stronger user protection measures.

CertiK advises users to avoid clicking unknown links, verify domain authenticity, enable multifactor authentication, and consider hardware wallets for storing cryptocurrency keys. These practices can help protect against the growing threat of phishing campaigns.

CertiK reported that approximately $187 million was recovered across various incidents during the first half of 2025, bringing the adjusted total losses to around $2.2 billion after accounting for funds returned to victims.