Crypto Hackers Are Stealing Record Amounts

A recent hack on the algorithmic stablecoin project Beanstalk was far larger than what was first reported, according to a Friday, April 22 Wall Street Journal article.

Initial reports over the weekend said hackers stole $76 million, but the Journal report, citing a project blog post, said hackers drained Beanstalk of $182 million in digital assets, wiping out all the ether held by the fund.

Read more: Beanstalk Stablecoin Protocol Hacked for at Least $76 Million

Ultimately, it was the fifth-largest crypto hack on record, at a time when the amount of funds stolen in hacks is increasing. The Journal says there have been 37 hacks in the past 38 weeks that have earned hackers around $2.9 billion, which is on par with the $3.2 billion stolen in 2021.

Hackers are looking for bigger exploits as decentralized finance (DeFi) becomes more popular. They tend to seek out new protocols that haven’t been fully vetted, Max Galka, chief executive of crypto forensics firm Elementus, told the Journal.

The open source nature of DeFi also makes these projects attractive to hackers. Thieves can spend time sifting through codes looking for weaknesses, said Chainalysis, which notes that DeFi protocols need to take a deeper approach to security.

Read more: Hackers Attack Elephant Money DeFi Platform, Steal Over $11 Million

Earlier this month, Elephant Money, the DeFi protocol behind the ELEPHANT token, reported that hackers stole $11.2 million worth of Binance Coin in what the company called an “automated attack” on its treasury. .

“It took a significant amount of capital to break through the defenses of the system. Over $261 million in volume,” the company said on Medium. “Every time bad actors win, it hurts the whole space. There are top teams who were aware of the weaknesses and stood aside and did nothing at your expense. Even after me and other community members asked them to disclose.