Orbit

2024

Wrapped Bitcoin

<p class="is-style-lead">December 2023 has experienced significant losses in cryptocurrency thefts, with the latest attack on Orbit Chain’s cross-chain bridge pushing the month’s total losses close to $100 million, according to blockchain security firms.</p> 
<p>Blockchain security firm PeckShield reported on Jan. 1 that the <a href="https://crypto.news/cross-chain-protocol-orbit-bridge-suffers-exploit-losses-surpass-80m/">$81.5 million exploit</a> of the Orbit Bridge was a major contributor to December being the fifth-highest month for crypto hacks in 2023.</p> 
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   <p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PeckShieldAlert?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#PeckShieldAlert</a> Hackers stole ~$99.3 million across over 36 attacks in December.<br>The Cross-chain <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OrbitBridge?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#OrbitBridge</a> suffered an $81.5 million exploit on New Year’s Eve, marking it as the 9th top hack targeting a cross-chain bridge in the last 3 years <a href="https://t.co/6oGqu7gjLo" target="_blank">pic.twitter.com/6oGqu7gjLo</a></p>— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) <a href="https://twitter.com/PeckShieldAlert/status/1741852326305100283?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" target="_blank" rel="noopener">January 1, 2024</a>
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<p>The exploit was also the ninth-highest hack targeting a cross-chain bridge over the past three years, it said.</p> 
<p>Orbit Bridge, the bridging service of the cross-chain protocol Orbit Chain protocol launched in South Korea in 2018, confirmed the hack owing to a security breach on Dec. 31 at 8:52 pm UTC, which resulted in substantial losses of various cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/ethereum/">ETH</a>), USD Coin (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/usd-coin/">USDC</a>), Tether (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/tether/">USDT</a>), and Wrapped Bitcoin (<a href="https://crypto.news/price/wrapped-bitcoin/">WBTC</a>).</p> 
<p>Responding to this breach, Orbit Chain’s team announced on Jan. 1 their efforts to freeze the stolen assets, working closely with global cryptocurrency exchanges and law enforcement agencies.</p> 
<p> You might also like: <a href="https://crypto.news/biggest-crypto-hacks/"> Major crypto hacks of 2023: how the industry lost over $1 billion in minutes </a> </p> 
<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="2023-witnesses-over-1-5-billion-lost-to-hackers">2023 witnesses over $1.5 billion lost to hackers</h2> 
<p>Estimates from blockchain security firms like PeckShield, CertiK, and Beosin place the total crypto losses due to hacks, scams, and exploits throughout 2023 between $1.51 billion and $2 billion. Notably, <a href="https://crypto.news/north-koreas-lazarus-behind-300m-in-2023-crypto-losses/">17% of these losses</a> are attributed to the activities of the North Korean hacker group Lazarus.</p> 
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<p>PeckShield data reveals that September and November were particularly hit hard, with losses exceeding $700 million in these two months. This includes significant incidents like the Mixin Network losing <a href="https://crypto.news/mixin-network-temporarily-halts-operations-following-200m-defi-exploit/">$200 million</a> in September and major exploits in November on Poloniex and HTX/Heco Bridge, leading to losses of <a href="https://crypto.news/justin-sun-offers-5-bounty-as-poloniex-losses-cross-100-million/">$131.4 million </a>and <a href="https://crypto.news/operations-resume-on-htx-after-suspicious-transfers-lead-to-100m-combined-exploit/">$113.3 million</a>, respectively.</p> 
<p>2023 also saw other notable hacks, such as Euler Finance losing <a href="https://crypto.news/defi-protocol-euler-finance-suffers-a-197-million-hack/">$197 million</a> in March and Multichain suffering a <a href="https://crypto.news/tether-freezes-usdt-addresses-linked-to-the-130-million-multichain-exploit/">$125 million</a> hack in July.</p> 
<p>Despite these high-profile incidents, blockchain security firm Beosin highlighted a significant decline in hacks, phishing scams, and rug pulls compared to 2022. Total losses in 2023 were down from approximately $4.38 billion in the previous year.</p> 
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<p>Hacks experienced the most significant reduction, plummeting from $3.6 billion in 2022 to $1.39 billion in 2023, marking a decrease of about 61.2%. This data suggests a relative improvement in the security and vigilance within the crypto sector, even as challenges persist.</p> 
<p> Read more: <a href="https://crypto.news/crypto-hackers-managed-to-steal-2b-in-2023/"> Crypto hackers managed to steal $2b in 2023 </a> </p>

Crypto hacks in December push total losses close to $100m

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