Hackers and scammers stole more than $163 million from the crypto industry in August, a 15% rise from July, as cybercriminals zeroed in on high-value targets amid record-breaking crypto prices.
Blockchain security firm PeckShield said in an X post on Monday that losses from 16 separate incidents in August still represent a 47% year-on-year decline compared with 2024. The two largest breaches accounted for the bulk of the month’s damages: a social engineering scam that tricked a Bitcoiner out of 783 BTC — worth $91 million at the time — and a $50 million theft from Turkish exchange Btcturk, its second major breach in just over a year.
Despite the dollar value jump, the overall number of incidents continues to fall. PeckShield noted there were 16 hacks in August, down from 17 in July and 20 in June. “Looking at the broader picture over the past eight months, the total number of hacks has shown a decreasing trend,” the firm said, adding that this suggests gradual improvements in ecosystem-wide defenses.
Still, industry executives warn that the environment is becoming more dangerous as crypto prices climb. Both Bitcoin and Ether set fresh all-time highs in August — BTC above $124,000 and ETH near $4,950. “Crypto exploits often rise alongside crypto prices, creating high-value rewards for hitting prime targets,” Hank Huang, CEO of Kronos Research, told Cointelegraph. He said attackers are “zeroing in on centralized wallets using sophisticated phishing and social engineering” to probe for weak points.
Total losses had been falling earlier in the summer, with $176 million lost in June and $142 million in July. But Huang cautioned that the trend could reverse in the months ahead. “Losses could keep rising for the rest of the year, driven not just by soaring crypto prices but even more by the slow and steady lag in security technology improvements to prevent these attacks,” he said.
PeckShield and other experts stressed that both corporate treasuries and wealthy individuals should take additional precautions. “High-value targets should be increasingly vigilant and proactively implement robust security measures,” PeckShield said.
Huang suggested that longer-term, the development of AI-driven security tools and more resilient infrastructure could help reduce risk, but until then, rising asset prices will continue to act as a magnet for sophisticated attackers.
