Crypto exploit losses in January see nearly 93% year-on-year decline

Around $8.8 million was lost to crypto exploits in January, a massive decline from the figures this time last year.
Aside from the bullish crypto market rally in January, there’s been more positive industry news as the month saw a steep decline in losses from exploits compared to the same time last year.
According to data from blockchain security firm PeckShield on Jan. 31, there were $8.8 million in losses from crypto exploits in January.
There were 24 exploits over the month, with $2.6 million worth of crypto being sent to mixers such as Tornado Cash. The breakdown of assets sent to mixers includes 1,200 Ether ETH $1,580 and around 2,668 BNB BNBtickers down $308.
The January figures are 92.7% lower than the $121.4 million lost to exploits in January 2022.
PeckShield reported that the largest exploit from last month, representing 68% of the total, was a Jan. 12 attack against LendHub that drained $6 million from the decentralized finance lending and borrowing platform.

Other notable exploits for the month included Thoreum Finance, which lost $580,000 and Midas Capital, which was exploited for $650,000 in a flash loan attack.
January’s figure is also down 68% from December 2022, which saw almost $27.3 million in exploit losses, according to PeckShield.
Other losses not included in the data include a $2.6 million rug pull on the FCS BNB Chain token, according to DeFiYield’s Rekt database. There was a further $150,000 lost to fake BONK tokens, and a $200,000 rug pull on the Doglands Metaverse gaming platform, DeFiYield reported.
A phishing attack on the GMX decentralized trading protocol on Jan. 4 also resulted in a victim losing as much as $4 million.
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Despite the relatively quiet month, blockchain security company CertiK told Cointelegraph in early January that there is unlikely to be a slowdown in attacks and exploits this year.
The firm also reported that the $62 million in crypto stolen in December was the “lowest monthly figure” in 2022.
As of the end of last year, the ten largest exploits of 2022 resulted in a whopping $2.1 billion stolen from crypto protocols.