Crypto Hacks Hit Record High—And North Korea’s Behind Most of It
The first half of 2025 has been brutal for crypto security. According to a new report from TRM Labs, hackers stole over $2.1 billion in digital assets—the worst six-month stretch ever recorded. That’s roughly 10% higher than the previous record set in 2022, and it’s almost as much as all of 2024 combined.
But what’s really alarming isn’t just the number. It’s who’s doing the stealing. Researchers say North Korean-linked groups are responsible for a staggering $1.6 billion of that total—about 70% of all stolen funds this year.
The $1.5 Billion Bybit Hack Changed Everything
The biggest single incident was February’s Bybit breach, now attributed to North Korea. At $1.5 billion, it’s the largest crypto theft in history—so big that it single-handedly pushed the average hack size to $30 million, double last year’s figure.
It wasn’t just Pyongyang, though. In mid-June, a group tied to Israel—Gonjeshke Darande, or “Predatory Sparrow”—reportedly took $90 million from Iranian exchange Nobitex. The stolen funds were sent to vanity addresses, effectively burning them. That move suggests the attack was more about sending a message than making money, possibly retaliation for the exchange’s alleged role in dodging sanctions.
How Hackers Are Getting In
The methods have shifted, too. Infrastructure-level breaches—like stealing private keys or hijacking front-end systems—made up over 80% of the losses. These often involve social engineering or insider access, and they’re proving far more profitable than the old-school smart contract exploits.
DeFi vulnerabilities, which dominated headlines a few years ago (think flash loans and reentrancy attacks), only accounted for about 12% of the damage this time. It seems hackers have moved on to bigger, softer targets.
The pace of these attacks is unsettling. With nation-states playing a growing role, it’s not just about opportunistic thieves anymore. The stakes are higher, and the fallout—for exchanges, investors, and even geopolitics—is getting harder to ignore.
And honestly? It’s hard to see this slowing down anytime soon.
