For as long as the crypto industry has existed, cybercriminals have been looking for ways to scam investors and companies out of their decentralized assets. Crypto hacks and scams continued to occur throughout 2023, with hundreds of millions in cryptocurrencies stolen. There are some notable thefts that make headlines and leave a big dent in people’s and platforms’ wallets.
So let’s discuss the biggest crypto hacks of 2023.
1. Euler Finance Hack
In March 2023, the Euler Finance hack rocked the crypto industry when hackers stole nearly $200 million in crypto from the lending platform.
Euler Finance became aware of the hack when PeckShield mentioned the platform in a post on X (formerly Twitter). In the post, PeckShield simply told Euler that it may want to take a look at a number of fast and suspicious transactions. It turned out that these transactions were the result of a huge hack in which $197 million worth of cryptocurrencies were stolen.
However, in a strange turn of events, the people responsible for this hack returned the stolen funds just weeks after the hacker attack. What’s even more interesting is that the responsible party apparently added an apology note to one of the return transactions, as you can see on Etherscan.
2. Mixin violation
In September 2023, crypto platform Mixin suffered a similar fate to Euler Finance when hackers stole $200 million worth of crypto. This attack was carried out via a data breach of Mixin’s cloud service provider. Mixin announced the hack in an X post, with one user commenting that they allegedly lost $100,000 due to the exploit.
At the time of writing, Mixin has still not been able to track down the attacker or recover the stolen funds. However, the platform committed to compensating each user for half of their lost holdings.
3. CoinsPaid phishing scam
Phishing is a very popular social engineering tactic used by cybercriminals and has caused a lot of damage in the crypto industry. In August 2023, crypto payment processor CoinsPaid suffered a $37 million hacker attack when malicious actors targeted an employee with a fake job offer.
In the exploit, the employee unknowingly installed malware under the assumption that he would be taking a test as part of the fake employer’s job interview. This malware was then used to hack CoinsPaid’s internal infrastructure and give attackers access to millions of crypto funds. Although the Lazarus hacking group was suspected of the hack, nothing has been confirmed and CoinsPaid had not been able to recover the stolen funds at the time of writing.
4. Atomic Wallet Hack
Popular software crypto wallet provider Atomic Wallet suffered a $100 million hack in June 2023, affecting over 5,000 user accounts. While some users had some of their money stolen, others had their wallets completely emptied. At the time of writing, Atomic Wallet has not yet explained how the hack occurred.
Initially, the Lazarus hacking group was blamed for the exploit, but things began to take a turn when a Ukrainian hacking group was targeted as a possible perpetrator.
In August 2023, Atomic Wallet came under fire when the company faced a class action lawsuit from numerous affected investors over the stolen funds. Time will tell whether the hack has any legal consequences for Atomic Wallet and whether affected users will receive compensation.
5. Curve Finance Hack
In late July 2023, Curve Finance was hit by a cyberattack that resulted in the theft of over $60 million worth of cryptocurrencies. In this case, Curve Finance’s liquidity pools where users had deposited their stablecoins were targeted. The stablecoin pools hosted by Curve Finance had code vulnerabilities that hackers exploited to obtain the stolen funds.
In August 2023, the hacker returned some of the stolen funds after Curve Finance offered a reward to those who could identify the perpetrator. White hat hackers also played a role in the return of some funds, with a total of 73 percent of the stolen holdings recovered.
Additionally, Curve committed to compensating users affected by the hack and promised to refund all stolen funds.
6. TrustWallet Scam
Another popular software wallet provider, TrustWallet, made headlines in crypto news in September 2023 when malicious actors began targeting users via phishing emails.
This malicious campaign sent thousands of emails to users with cybercriminals posing as Trust Wallet employees. The email informed recipients that their Trust Wallet account would soon be suspended if the wallet was not verified. A link to a verification page was provided, but it led to a malicious website aimed at stealing data. Users were asked to provide their recovery phrase, an important piece of information that can be used to access crypto wallets.
After a target user entered their seed phrase, the hacker gained access to their TrustWallet account funds, resulting in the theft of over $40 million worth of cryptocurrencies.
7. MultiChain Hack/Rug Pull
In July 2023, crypto news platforms began reporting a hack or possible rug pull that occurred on MultiChain, a cross-chain protocol used to bridge blockchains. Suspicions began to circulate when a total of $125 million was withdrawn from MultiChain through numerous transactions.
The hack is believed to be the result of insiders, as the platform’s CEO, Zhaojun, was arrested by Chinese authorities shortly after the withdrawals. The CEO’s devices, including his phones, computers and hardware wallets, were also taken during the arrest. In addition, after Zhaojun’s arrest, his sister was also taken into police custody on suspicion of involvement in the crime.
Since the hack or rug pull, MultiChain has ceased operations. The company published a report on the decision on X, listing the chain of events that led to the closure.
8. LastPass Data Breach
LastPass is no stranger to breaches, with 2023 bringing more trouble for the password manager. People use LastPass to store all kinds of sensitive information, including crypto exchange credentials and private keys or seed phrases for crypto wallets. The amount of valuable information stored using LastPass has made it a consistent target for cybercriminals.
In October 2023, $4.4 million worth of cryptocurrencies were stolen as a result of a LastPass breach the year before. To steal the funds, multiple seed phrases and passwords were used, all stored by LastPass. Over 25 users were affected by the theft after their data was stolen in the 2022 security breach and the funds are still at large.
9. Stake Hack
Controversial but popular crypto gambling platform Stake suffered a hacker attack in September 2023 in which a total of $41 million was stolen. In this hack, users’ crypto hot wallets were targeted and various assets such as Ethereum and Dai were stolen. All funds were sent to a single wallet address that likely belonged to the hacker(s) responsible. From there, the funds were sent to several other wallets, scattering their location and making it harder to keep track of them.
It was always suspected that North Korean hackers had something to do with this theft. These suspicions were confirmed when the FBI announced that the hacking group Lazarus had been identified as responsible. The funds have yet to be found or retrieved, as is the case with many crypto hacks.
10. CoinEx Hack
In September 2023, a shocking $70 million worth of cryptocurrencies were stolen from crypto exchange CoinEx after hackers accessed numerous private keys to users’ hot wallets.
In total, the exploit stole $54 million worth of crypto, with a huge transfer of nearly 5,000 Ethereum earlier this month raising suspicions. Additionally, 231 Bitcoin, 2,220 Bitcoin Cash, 135,600 Solana, and a host of other assets were stolen. Although no CoinEx cold wallets were affected, the attackers still managed to steal a huge amount that has not yet been recovered at the time of writing.
It’s no surprise that the Lazarus hacker group is suspected to be the perpetrator of this hack, as they have reportedly been responsible for numerous attacks in the past.
Crypto hacks go nowhere
With billions of dollars stolen in cryptocurrencies over the past decade, it is highly unlikely that crypto-based scams and hacks will go away any time soon. Not only are cybercriminals becoming more sophisticated in their tactics, platforms with poor security and investors without experience are also becoming easy targets.
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