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As if the loss of market stability wasn’t enough, new data indicates 2022 as one of the worst years for crypto heists on record.

Crypto heists cost the market $3.5billion in 2022, which according to Crypto Presales data, marks one of the worst years to date.

2022’s figures surpass even the combined figures of 2019, 2020 and 2021. Combining all figures since records began in 2011 sees a total of $8.9billion lost to crypto security threats.

Since 2011, there have been 500 cases of crypto heists worldwide. Nearly 65 per cent of these occurred in the last two years. Monthly analysis shows October, April and May 2022 as the worst months for crypto heists, with around 20 reported hacks each.

Crypto heists have soared in the last five years. The nine hacks reported in 2017 are a far cry from the 132 attacks recorded in 2021. Around $730million was lost to crypto security threats in August 2021 alone. This is primarily due to the single Poly Network heist, which ended up being the second-largest crypto hack ever at $610million. In total, hackers stole more than $2.7billion that year.

Alarmingly however, the number of attacks jumped 45 per cent in 2022. In last year’s 192 crypto heists, which ranged from cross-chain hacks to code exploits, hackers made away with $3.57billion in investor funds.

2022’s biggest hacks

Besides seeing the highest number of crypto hacks so far, 2022 has also witnessed some of the largest crypto heists. In fact, three out of the five biggest hacks of all time happened last year.

The gaming-based crypto network Ronin Network announced its hacking in March 2022. This is one of the most significant hacks on the list, with $620million stolen in total.

Seven months later, hackers carried out a $570million raid on Binance’s BNB chain. The October hack proved to be the third-largest crypto heist to date. The hack drained no less than two billion BNB tokens from its cross-chain bridge.

While $110million remains unrecoverable, the exchange’s reaction managed to stall efforts by freezing tokens.  However, the platform’s CEO went on to deliver an email to users in late December reassuring them of the security of their assets.

This was then followed by the $477million collapse of exchange FTX. The November hacking remains the fifth-largest heist in the crypto space when nearly $1.7billion worth of cryptos were lost.

Analysed by the crypto platform’s headquarters, every seventh crypto heist took place in the United States.