Crypto Hacks Nearly Match 2024 Total Thanks to $1.4 Billion Bybit Theft

This year is shaping up ominously for the crypto space–and it’s only February. 

Data from Blockchain security firm Immunefi shows that the total money lost in hacks for 2025 is already nearing last year’s total of $2.2 billion. 

With last week’s record Bybit exploit, the number for 2025 stands at $1.6 billion. 

Hackers on Friday stole over $1.4 billion worth of Ethereum and Ethereum-related assets in a complex operation. Feds now link the attack to the notorious North Korea state-sponsored Lazarus Group. 

“The crypto ecosystem has witnessed $1,602,258,100 in total losses in 2025 year-to-date, representing an 8x increase compared to $200 million during the same period last year,” Immunefi said. 

It added that losses in February were 20x more than they were in January, when hackers got away with $73.9 million. 

Last week’s Bybit exploit was the biggest crypto hack in history. Criminals Lazarus targeted the centralized exchange and took control of an Ethereum cold wallet during a routine transfer operation. 

They then laundered the stolen funds through decentralized exchanges and other obfuscating apps—typical of Lazarus, which has been linked to multiple other attacks—in a bid to hide their tracks and swap the stolen Ethereum for Bitcoin, blockchain analysts have said. 

Last year was dangerous in crypto, with criminals not only targeting the experimental and mistake-prone DeFi world, but increasingly attacking centralized platforms—previously thought to be safe. 

Centralized exchanges are run by companies while apps and DEXs function automatically—and are therefore prone to bugs and hacks. 

Japanese crypto exchange DMM Bitcoin lost over 4,500 Bitcoins—worth $308 million at the time—to hackers in May last year.

Hackers have already hit two centralized platforms with massive exploits: Bybit and Crypto neo-bank Infini—which lost nearly $50 million on Monday—compensating for most of 2025’s losses.

Edited by James Rubin