- Crypto losses reached roughly USD 3.4 billion in 2025, the highest since 2022.
- Three major hacks, led by a USD 1.4 billion Bybit breach, accounted for 69% of total losses.
- DeFi hacks remain relatively suppressed despite a rise in total value locked, reflecting stronger security measures.
- North Korean hacker groups were linked to more than USD 2 billion in thefts in 2025, suggesting evolving threat sophistication.
Cryptocurrency theft and security breaches have seen a sharp escalation in 2025, leading to losses of close to USD 3.4 billion, the highest recorded since 2022, as per a new report by Chainalysis.
Although the number of security breaches experienced a sharp increase in 2025, the extent of losses caused by a couple of significant incidents is what raises serious concerns about massive security breaches and weaknesses in the systems of exchanges and corporate infrastructure.
Major Hacks Drive Most Losses
From Chainalysis statistics, three major hacking incidents were responsible for about 69% of all thefts in 2025, with the hack involving USD 1.4 billion on crypto exchange Bybit, which comprised almost half of all losses recorded within a year.
This trend has been referred to as “big game hunting,” in which hackers prefer targets such as major exchanges or institutional wallets over other alternatives. As mentioned in the report by Chainalysis, some outliers significantly affect annual figures, making it rather difficult to forecast future losses, as a single incident could greatly alter figures.
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Increasing Focus on Wallets & Private Keys
Even as large exchange breaches make up most of the headlines, cases involving personal cryptocurrency wallets and private key theft have also gained prominence. While wallet theft has become a substantial portion of stolen value, contributing approximately 20% to that end, it is up from 7% in 2022. Not counting Bybit, it would have accounted for 37% of the stolen value related to a wallet.
Although the number of wallet hacks is higher, the average value lost is lower, representing the fact that an individual wallet contains less money than the exchange’s reserve pool.
DeFi Security Improvements Stand Out
Contrary to the large increase in the amount of stolen funds, the decentralized finance space has not experienced such large losses. The current total value locked for the industry stands at around USD 119 billion, well over the 2023 lows.
The current trends indicate that the industry has strengthened its defenses against exploits, resulting in fewer large-scale exploits compared to the past years. Indeed, this is a key deviation from the past, where large total value locks were associated with exploits.
North Korean Actors Increasingly Sophisticated
Data analysis provided by Chainalysis also revealed that North Korean hackers accounted for close to USD 2.02 billion worth of stolen funds in 2025, showing a jump of around US$681 million from 2024. The number might have been low, but their severity indicated that North Korean hackers had changed strategies and started focusing on patience and targeting sensitive systems.
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