Nearly $100M in crypto hacks recovered in March, says PeckShield

Blockchain security firm PeckShield reported a significant recovery of stolen digital assets in March. The firm’s data shows that nearly $100 million of the $187 million lost to crypto hacks has been reclaimed. March witnessed over 30 hacking incidents, making the recovery of 52.8% of the stolen funds a notable achievement. This recovery underscores the ongoing battle against digital asset theft and highlights the effectiveness of response strategies.

PeckShield’s analysis pointed out the top five incidents by loss magnitude. The Munchables game suffered the highest losses, followed by Curio, Prisma Finance, NFPrompt, and WOOFi. These incidents varied in nature and impact, demonstrating the diverse threats facing the digital asset community. The Munchables incident alone accounted for a significant portion of the month’s total losses and recoveries.

Crypto hacks highlight digital finance vulnerabilities

The Munchables, a nonfungible token game, experienced the most significant loss and recovery in March. Initially, the project estimated its losses at $62 million due to an exploit. Remarkably, the stolen funds were returned by the crypto hackers, who was later identified as one of the game’s developers. Blast network, the foundation of Munchables, announced the recovery of $97 million in crypto, showcasing a rare full recovery scenario.

Another notable incident involved Prisma Finance, with approximately $11 million in assets stolen. The hacker’s claim of a “white hat rescue” and subsequent negotiations for the return of the funds highlights a complex interaction between security breaches and ethical hacking practices. This incident, along with others like the Curio hack and the NFPrompt and WOOFi exploits, emphasizes the vulnerabilities in the digital finance ecosystem.

DeFi platforms confront rising security challenges

The Curio hack, involving a breach of a MakerDAO-based smart contract, initially appeared to lose $16 million. However, PeckShield’s closer inspection suggests losses nearer to $40 million, placing it as the second-largest by value in March. This incident underlines the sophisticated nature of attacks on decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms and the challenges of securing smart contracts against such breaches.

On the other hand, the decentralized exchange WOOFi and the Binance-incubated project NFPrompt experienced security leaks. Each of these incidents, with $8.5 million and $10 million losses, illustrates the larger topic of platform security in the crypto industry. The funds recovered, especially those from the Munchables event, are a dim light of hope but also remain a warning of the ever-present threat digital assets have against hackers.

PeckShield’s report on the recovery of some $100 million in stolen digital assets in March is illustrative of the cryptocurrency ecosystem’s resilience and susceptibility. More than half of the money that hackers stole has been returned to players’ security professionals and the community as a whole. Nevertheless, the variety of the attacks and the large amounts in each case only emphasize the threat of protecting digital assets against a more and more refined attack.