Losses from crypto hacks surged 60% to $1.9 billion from January to July, Chainalysis says

Losses arising from cryptocurrency hacks jumped nearly 60% in the first seven months of the year to $1.9 billion, propelled by a surge in funds stolen from decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, according to a blog post from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis released on Tuesday.

In the same period last year, stolen funds from hacking amounted to $1.2 billion. DeFi applications, many of which run on the Ethereum blockchain, are financial platforms that enable crypto-denominated lending outside of traditional banks.

Chainalysis noted that the trend is not likely to reverse any time soon, given the $190 million hacking of cross-chain bridge Nomad and $5 million hacking of several Solana wallets already in the first week of August.