Hacks, exploits cause over $100 mn in crypto losses in April: Report

New Delhi, May 4 (IANS) More than $100 million worth of cryptocurrency was lost in the month of April this year due to crypto-related exploits, hacks, and scams, a report has shown.

According to the blockchain and smart contract security company CertiK, the total funds hackers managed to drain in April from crypto projects was $103.7 million, bringing the total year-to-date loss to $429.7 million.

Several significant crypto exploits occurred in April, resulting in significant losses in the industry. For instance, there was a $25.4 million loss due to an exploit of multiple MEV trading bots.

In addition, Bitrue Exchange was the victim of a hot wallet exploit in which $22 million was stolen, plus, the South Korean GDAC exchange was hacked, resulting in a $13 million loss, according to the report.

The total amount of money lost to crypto and DeFi (decentralised finance) exploits in April was $74.5 million.

This accounts for nearly half of the total $145 million lost to such exploits in the first four months of the year, said the report.

Moreover, the report stated that total funds lost to exit scams reached $9.4 million in the month, with Merlin DEX losing $2.7 million, and around $20 million lost to flash loan attacks, led primarily by Yearn Finance after a hacker exploited an old smart contract in April.

In April, Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin said that its Twitter account was hacked, allowing threat actors to promote a fraudulent giveaway scam, which resulted in the theft of more than $22.6K worth of cryptocurrency.

Although the account was hacked for a brief 45-minute period, the crypto exchange has reported that during that time, 22 Bitcoin and Ethereum transactions were sent by its followers.

This unfortunately gave the hackers enough time to steal a total of $22,628.