SlowMist has released its 2024 Mid-Year Blockchain Security and Anti-Money Laundering Report.
According to CoinMarketCap, the global cryptocurrency market cap “reached approximately $2.34 trillion by June 30, 2024, highlighting robust growth.”
However, SlowMist pointed out that this development “comes with increasingly severe blockchain security challenges.”
As blockchain applications expand, attackers have “become more sophisticated, exploiting system vulnerabilities and causing significant losses,” the SlowMist report revealed.
This report from SlowMist focuses “on two key areas: blockchain ecosystem security and anti-money laundering (AML) measures, offering a comprehensive understanding of current and future security risks in the blockchain sector.”
Blockchain Security Landscape
Statistics from the SlowMist Hacked Database “show 223 recorded security incidents in the first half of 2024, resulting in $1.43 billion in losses.”
This marks a 55.43% increase “compared to the first half of 2023, which saw 185 incidents with approximately $920 million in losses.”
From an ecosystem perspective, SlowMist pointed out that Ethereum “experienced the highest losses, reaching $400 million. This was followed by Arbitrum with approximately $72.46 million in losses, and Blast with around $70 million. Additionally, BSC had the most security incidents, totaling 57, with losses of about $32.12 million.”
SlowMist added that from an industry perspective, DeFi was “the most frequently attacked area in the first half of 2024, with 158 incidents accounting for 70.85% of the total and $659 million in losses.”
This marks a 37.29% increase compared “to the first half of 2023, which had 111 incidents and $480 million in losses. Security incidents on trading platforms resulted in $524 million in losses, with the DMM Bitcoin incident alone accounting for $305 million, making it the largest security incident of the first half of 2024.”
SlowMist further noted that two incidents in the first half of 2024 “had losses exceeding $100 million.”
The report from SlowMist also shared some major security incidents by loss for this period:
Contract vulnerabilities were the most “common cause of security incidents, with 56 incidents resulting in losses of about $104 million.”
This was followed by incidents “caused by rug pulls, totaling 50 incidents.”
The update highlights some phishing and stealing techniques disclosed by SlowMist in the first half of 2024:
- Same prefix and suffix phishing
- Malicious extensions
- Malicious Trojan programs
- Malicious bookmark phishing
- Signature authorization phishing
AML in Security Incidents
Frozen Funds Data
- Tether: In the first half of 2024, 374 ETH addresses were blocked, freezing USDT-ERC20 assets on these addresses, making them non-transferable.
- Circle: In the first half of 2024, 28 ETH addresses were blocked, freezing USDC-ERC20 funds on these addresses, making them non-transferable.
With the strong support of our SlowMist InMist intelligence network part, they “assisted our clients, partners, and public hacking incidents in freezing approximately $24.39 million in the first half of 2024.”
Recovered Funds Data
In the first half of 2024, 16 incidents “involved the full or partial recovery of stolen funds. Out of approximately $113 million stolen, nearly $98.64 million was returned, accounting for 87.3% of the total.”
At SlowMist, they are focused on “being a frontrunner in blockchain security, dedicating years to mastering threat intelligence.”
Their expertise is grounded in “providing comprehensive security audits and advanced anti-money laundering tracking to a diverse clientele.”
They’ve established a robust network for “threat intelligence collaboration, positioning ourselves as a key player in the global blockchain security landscape.”
They offer tailor-made security solutions “that span from identifying threats to implementing effective defense mechanisms.”
This holistic approach has garnered the “trust of numerous leading and recognized projects worldwide, including names like Huobi, OKX, Binance, imToken, Crypto.com, Amber Group, Klaytn, EOS, 1inch, PancakeSwap, TUSD, Alpaca Finance, MultiChain, and Cheers UP. Our mission is to ensure the blockchain ecosystem is not only innovative but also secure and reliable.”
