October Crypto Losses Reached $129 Million

Crypto losses in October resulted from several significant events. Hackers gained access to Radiant Capital, a whale fell for a phishing scam, and the M2 exchange was hacked. 

In October, crypto losses skyrocketed to $129 million. Let’s examine each event and its effect on the crypto market.

A Look at the Numbers

According to blockchain security firm CertiK , October’s crypto losses were significant. CertiK tied these losses to three main types of attacks:

• Exit Scams: These scams, where project owners vanish with investors’ money, accounted for $1.2 million in losses.
• Flash Loan Attacks: These are quick borrowing attacks often used to manipulate prices or drain funds and lead to $1.5 million in losses.
• Exploits: This type of attack, where hackers find vulnerabilities in protocols or smart contracts, comprised the bulk of the losses, totaling $127 million.

🚨 LATEST: CertiK reports $129M in losses due to crypto security incidents in October. pic.twitter.com/5wlCjjdtSU

— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) November 3, 2024

Major Incidents in October

• Radiant Capital Hack:  The lending platform Radiant Capital experienced the most significant loss, exceeding $50 million when a hacker obtained private keys and smart contracts on October 16. The breach affected the BNB Chain and Arbitrum markets. As reported by Radiant, hackers stole all developer money. This was possible because they saw the critical developers’ devices through malware.

Radiant Capital just had their protocol stolen from them like a school bully steals lunch money.

Multisig was compromised and ownership was transferred.

Revoke all approvals. Tens of millions of dollars in losses so far. pic.twitter.com/vu5dIO2AH6

— Pop Punk (@PopPunkOnChain) October 16, 2024

Following this, Radiant stopped operating its lending markets and enhanced the security measures on its platform. The Chia team also introduced a “timelock contract,” which prevents any changes to the protocol within the first 72 hours.

• Phishing Attack: They remained the second largest and suffered a $36 million loss due to a phishing attack . In this case, a “whale”—an owner of many cryptocurrencies—was convinced to grant access to his funds and lost them.

#CertiKStatsAlert 🚨

Chart Updated to include M2

Combining all the incidents in October we’ve confirmed ~$129.7m lost to exploits, hacks and scams after ~$245k was returned.

Exit scams: ~$1.2m
Flash loans: ~$1.5m
Exploits: ~$127m

More details below 👇 pic.twitter.com/cHf9DM27rG

— CertiK Alert (@CertiKAlert) November 1, 2024

• M2 Exchange Hack: Coming in third, M2 , a crypto exchange, suffered a $13.7 million loss. On October 31, hackers emptied the exchange’s hot wallets. Crypto investor ZachXBT claimed that the hackers took Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana from M2. However, M2 later stated they had looked into it and refunded the customer’s money.

🚨 Yesterday, @M2Exchange was hacked for ~$13M in assets from hot wallets across multiple chains, due to an access control exploit.

Here’s what we know so far 👇 pic.twitter.com/8Hyhbm6Rku

— Hacken🇺🇦 (@hackenclub) November 1, 2024

Comparison to Previous Months

Losses reached $129 million in October, and total losses were $123.4 million in September. This indicates a 37% decrease from the $324.7 million cybercriminals took in May 2024.

🚨 Closing October with $129M in crypto losses from hacks and exit scams! 🚨

October recorded significant security incidents in the crypto space, with losses reaching approximately $129.6 million due to hacks, phishing attacks, and exit scams, underscoring the critical need for… pic.twitter.com/vfiImJoho3

— FearsOff Cybersecurity (@FearsOffCyber) November 5, 2024

Conclusion

The $129 million in crypto losses in October emphasizes the importance of security. The Radiant Capital hack and the M2 exchange have made investors and relevant platforms aware of positive security measures. With the crypto industry expanding, the level of security for both platforms and investors must increase. Building platforms with strong defenses will make them less vulnerable to similar threats in the future.

Disclaimer

The information discussed by Altcoin Buzz is not financial advice. This is for educational, entertainment, and informational purposes only. Any information or strategies are thoughts and opinions relevant to the accepted levels of risk tolerance of the writer/reviewers and their risk tolerance may be different than yours. We are not responsible for any losses that you may incur as a result of any investments directly or indirectly related to the information provided. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are high-risk investments so please do your due diligence. Copyright Altcoin Buzz Pte Ltd.