Crypto hacks surged in January 2025, with total losses reaching $73.9 million across 19 incidents, according to a report by Immunefi. 

The figure marks a ninefold increase from December but a 44.6% decline compared to January 2024, when hackers stole $133.4 million, according to the report. 

Singapore-based exchange Phemex accounted for the bulk of the losses, suffering a $69.1 million breach. During the breach, Phemex suffered a nearly $70 million hot wallet exploit with hackers siphoning funds across Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), XRP (XRP), and Bitcoin (BTC).  

Analysts linked the attack to North Korea, noting that the stolen stablecoins were quickly converted to Ethereum to evade blacklisting.

CeFi vs. DeFi

Centralized finance platforms were the primary targets of hacks in January, making up 93.5% of total losses, while decentralized finance protocols saw 18 attacks but accounted for only 6.5% of stolen funds.

This significant gap between centralized and decentralized finance was largely due to the Phemex attack. Fraud did not contribute to any reported losses, with hacking remaining the sole cause of theft in January.

BNB Chain was the most targeted blockchain in January 2025, accounting for 50% of total losses across targeted networks with 10 individual attacks. Ethereum followed with six incidents, making up 25% of losses.

Arbitrum and Base each suffered two attacks, while Optimism saw a single breach.