Cyber Theft in Crypto Sees Significant Drop in 2023, With $674 Million Recovered: PeckShield Report

Blockchain security firm PeckShield has released a report indicating a significant 27.78% decrease in cyber theft in the crypto space in 2023, with losses totaling $2.61 billion.

This represents a significant improvement over the previous year, when cyber theft totaled more than $3.6 billion.

Interestingly, the report highlights a significant recovery effort, with more than $674 million recovered from stolen funds.

This represents a 25% recovery rate, a significant increase over 2022, when only $133 million was successfully recovered.

Negotiations with hackers and the implementation of bug bounty programs by the affected crypto firms were credited with accelerating the recovery.

Collaborative efforts with exchanges, Tether, and law enforcement agencies also helped recover the stolen assets.

According to PeckShield data, flash loans accounted for 40% of cyber theft incidents in 2023. Despite this, decentralized finance (DeFi) remained a primary target, accounting for 67% of losses and 33% of gains from centralized finance.

While Bitcoin was the preferred crypto for illicit transactions from 2018 to 2021, the trend shifted in 2022 and 2023.

Stablecoins, including those pegged to traditional fiat currencies, have grown in popularity in illicit transactions, indicating that malicious actors in the crypto space are targeting a wider range of victims.