Counting the total value of crypto that has been lost in DeFi exploits reveals that October was the worst month on record, and it’s not even halfway there yet.
Industry analysis firm Chainalysis has reported that October has just become the biggest month in history for crypto hacking activity.
On October 13, the company tweeted that so far this month, $718 million has lived stolen across 11 different DeFi protocols via hacks or exploits.
The figure just eclipses the previous loftiest month for hacks, which was March, when the Ronin Bridge was hacked for over $600 million.
“At this rate, 2022 will likely surpass 2021 as the biggest hacking year on record. So far, hackers have grossed over $3 billion across 125 hacks,” he said.
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DeFi Hacking Season
Chainalysis compared the nature of the exploits to those of 2019, stating that back then most hacks targeted centralized exchanges, whereas now they target DeFi protocols and cross-chain bridges.
Three bridges have already been breached this month and nearly $600 million has been stolen. These account for 82% of losses this month and 64% of losses so far in 2022.
This week alone saw exploits on Mango Markets, TempleDAO, and QANplatform. Losses from each platform amounted to more than $100 million from Solana-based DeFi derivatives platform Mango, $2.34 million from yield farming protocol TempleDAO, and $1 million from the quantum-resistant layer-1 blockchain QAN platform. Earlier this month, the Binance BNB Chain was mined for over $100 million, adding to October’s record tally.
DeFi Yield’s Rekt database reports that the total amount of money that failed to crypto hacks, exploits, and rug draws has jumped 200% in the past month. That total now stands at $61 billion, according to the dashboard.
The numbers are a bit skewed, however, as they list the collapse of the Terra ecosystem as the biggest loss of funds in the crypto industry, with $40 billion lost.
TVL tank
The total value locked in the DeFi ecosystem has decreased by 71.5% since its all-time high of $214 billion in December 2021. Today’s figure stands at $61 billion, according to DeFiLlama.
The drop is not related to hacking or exploits but is a result of falling crypto asset prices. Crypto markets have shrunk by a very similar percentage, 69%, over the same period, from just over $3 trillion in November to $957 billion today.
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