DeFi Hacks Surging

White hat firm CipherTrace reports that in 2021 so far “major crypto thefts, hacks, and frauds totaled $432 million.”

That appears to be on pace with the total loss due to crypto crime in 2020 of $1.9 Billion.

The 2021 stats probably don’t include the recent ransom ware shut down of the Colonial Pipeline where press reports say that the company paid 75 Bitcoins (or about $5 million) in ransom and got a defective “key” to unlock their data in return.

But the firm notes that the crime on the rise is actually hacks of “decentralized finance” facilities.

Per Reuters, “DeFi applications are platforms that facilitate #crypto-denominated lending outside traditional banking, using an open-source code with algorithms that set rates in real time based on supply and demand.”

Many of these hacks are embedded in the Ethereum blockchain.

“DeFi” loans totaled about $86 Billion this week and as security is enhanced for Bitcoin transactions, the bad guys move on to DeFi networks, such as the $80 million theft on April 19th from the EasyFi network.

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2021/05/14/613928.htm

Source: https://jeffkoeppel.wordpress.com/2021/05/14/defi-hacks-surging/