Crypto Hacks Reach $3.4 Billion in 2025, Thanks to North Korean Hackers

Over $3.4 billion has been lost to theft in the cryptocurrency industry this year, according to a new report by Chainalysis. This results in a slightly higher loss of $3.38 billion in 2024.

However, the losses from crypto theft remain lower than the record $3.98 billion reported in 2022.

Top Three Crypto Thefts Account for 69% of Losses

Interestingly, the increase in stolen crypto assets in 2025 came from major high-impact attacks. According to Chainalysis, the top three hacks account for 69% of all crypto losses in 2025.

At the top of that list is the Bybit hack, in which the exchange lost $1.5 billion to a crypto theft. There were others, such as the $220 million loss from the Cetus protocol and the $90 million hack of Nobitex.

However, these high-impact losses were outliers, with most hacks relatively small. The security firm noted that these outliers were more than 1,000 times the median for the first time.

It wrote:

“The ratio between the largest hack and median of all incidents has crossed the 1,000x threshold for the first time. Funds stolen in the largest attacks are now 1,000 times larger than those stolen in the typical incident, surpassing even the 2021 bull market peak.”

Meanwhile, the nature of crypto thefts has also evolved, with an increase in personal wallet compromises. It would have accounted for 37% of all losses in 2025, had it not been for the Bybit incident. However, the total amount stolen declined to $713 million from $1.5 billion in 2024.

Centralized crypto services are also becoming more vulnerable to large losses due to private key compromise. By comparison, DeFi losses due to hacks have declined even as total value locked in DeFi increased.

North Korea Hackers Stole Over $2 Billion

North Korea hackers have emerged as a primary threat actor, with $2.02 billion stolen in 2025. The state-backed hackers were responsible for the breach of Bybit in February, through which they stole $1.5 billion.

However, they were also behind several other incidents, including an attack on Upbit, and have stolen $651 million more this year compared to 2024. This makes 2025 the year with the most losses attributed to North Korea hackers.

The report noted:

“This marks the most severe year on record for DPRK crypto theft in terms of value stolen, with DPRK attacks also accounting for a record 76% of all service compromises.”

Meanwhile, North Korea-backed hackers have now stolen around $6.75 billion in crypto assets. They achieved these results through various tactics, including infiltrating crypto companies with IT workers to get access to internal information.

However, hackers are also compromising crypto services by impersonating recruiters and investors to run fake hiring and pitch processes. These usually enable them to steal information from victims that they can use to exploit the victims’ employers or projects.

A key highlight of the report was the size and impact of North Korea-backed hacks. These hackers appear to target high-value attacks, with the group making more money from fewer attacks in 2025.