Big Hacks of 2023💰🔐
How intense were the crypto heists in 2023? Rejuve's AI and Blockchain for Longevity. CZ's Billionaire Boom, Grayscale Reshuffle, and ETF Buzz. MS Drainer Strikes Again: $3 Million Christmas Heist.
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The year 2023 saw its fair share of crypto exploits and hacks, totalling losses in the billions.
Here are some of the biggest ones that stood out👇
Mixin ($200 million): This September attack targeted the Hong Kong-based cross-chain asset transfer and DEX platform through a data breach of its cloud service provider. The stolen funds remain unrecovered.
Euler Finance ($197 million): In March, a flash loan exploit hit this DeFi protocol, draining it of a large sum in various cryptocurrencies. Interestingly, the attacker later returned the stolen funds after apologising.
Multichain ($126 million): This cross-chain bridge platform suffered a major exploit in April involving compromised private keys and the theft of various tokens.
BonqDAO ($120 million): This DeFi project fell victim to a flash loan attack in July, resulting in the loss of millions in stablecoins and ETH.
Poloniex ($114 million): This veteran cryptocurrency exchange experienced a hot wallet compromise in February, leading to the theft of Bitcoin and other tokens.
Other Notable Hacks
Stake ($41 million): Hackers targeted users' hot wallets on this crypto-gambling platform in September, primarily stealing Ethereum and Dai.
Atomic Wallet ($100 million): A supply chain attack compromised this multi-currency wallet in February, allowing unauthorised access to user funds.
Ledger Connect Kit ($600,000): This December attack involved malicious code injected into the software, compromising several DeFi platforms and draining user funds.
Curve ($60 million): Hackers targeted the DeFi protocol Curve in July, exploiting vulnerabilities in its code.
Kyber ($48 million): In November, hackers struck DeFi market maker KyberSwap, grabbing nearly $50 million. The attacker made an open, on-chain request for complete control of the protocol and a purge of Kyber's leadership.
Overall Trends
Cross-chain bridges and DeFi protocols were frequent targets. Their complex nature and interconnectedness seemed to attract attackers.
Flash loan attacks continued to be a major threat. Exploiting DeFi mechanisms through rapid loans enabled significant thefts.
Supply chain attacks emerged as a growing concern. Compromising platforms used by other services created vulnerabilities for broader harm.
50% Drop in 2023
According to a report by TRM Labs, hack volumes in 2023 fell by more than 50% compared to the previous year.
Despite a stable number of 160 attacks, cybercriminals stole less than half of the nearly $4 billion looted in 2022, totalling $1.7 billion.
The top 10 hacks accounted for approximately 70% of the total stolen funds.
The future? Blockchain security firms predict that there will be more convincing AI scams in 2024.
TTD Numbers🎙️
Jasmine Smith, Rejuve CEO.
"So it's like we're living longer, but we're living longer, sicker."
Rejuve, a SingularityNET spinoff, aims to use AI and blockchain to enhance health and longevity.
What is Rejuve?
Rejuve introduces the Rejuve Longevity app: an app with tokens and NFTs, making longevity accessible.
Users earn tokens by sharing data and simplifying aging concepts for better understanding.
Jasmine Smith says:
"AI enables us to process data at much faster rates and [in] more intricate combinations than people just reading endless papers and everything. Just being able to have that personalised medicine theme kind of propagates more via AI because it can analyse the data and assist clinical providers in their decision-making."
Who else have a word on this:
Bryan Johnson, Biohacker: Emphasises stopping "self-destructive behaviour" for longer lives.
Dr. David Barzilai, Longevity expert: Wants "to be healthy and feel great while we're around."
Peter Lee, Microsoft VP: Praises ChatGPT for helping understand medical jargon for his father's care.
AI interest > BTC
Google search data shows that interest in AI has surpassed interest in Bitcoin and crypto this year.
Since 2020, searches for Bitcoin and crypto had been more popular, but this trend started to change in August 2022.
TTD Numbers 🔢
$25 billion
Bloomberg's Billionaires Index reveals that CZ, the former Binance CEO, increased his net worth by approximately $25 billion in 2023.
Despite of all this👇🏻
Read this: A $4 billion trouble 💸
Read this: Binance Bites the Bullet 🙊
Read this: What’s next for CZ?🔮
CZ's net worth stood at $37.2 billion as of December 25, marking a staggering year-to-date gain of $24.6 billion.
Now CZ is the 35th wealthiest billionaire globally.
Surpassed Citadel CEO Ken Griffin.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk still got the crown. World's wealthiest individual with a net worth of $232 billion.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong? Also remarkable with a net worth of $7.25 billion - year-to-date increase of $5.77 billion.
Where’s ETF? 🚨
The approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF could provide retirement savers with a simple way to access crypto👇🏻
TTD Exit 🚪
A bunch of resignations happened from the board of directors at Grayscale Investments.
Stepped Down
Barry Silbert, Founder and CEO of Digital Currency Group (DCG)
Mark Murphy, President of DCG
New Board Members
Mark Shifke, Chief Financial Officer of DCG (Succeeds Silbert as Grayscale's board chairman)
Matt Kummell, Senior Vice President of Operations at DCG
Edward McGee, Chief Financial Officer of Grayscale
ETF Aspirations
This development coincides with the anticipation of the SEC potentially approving multiple spot Bitcoin ETF applications, including Grayscale's.
This means an ETF on its way?
Is this a "Good Behaviour" Strategy?
Some says that Grayscale's board changes are an attempt to demonstrate compliance and responsibility to the SEC, positioning itself favourably for potential ETF launches.
And then this happened👇
TTD Stablecoins 🪙
Scammers stole $3 million worth of crypto on Christmas Day.
They used MS Drainer, a wallet-draining software, in their scams.
Timeline of Events:
2023: Scammers stole $59 million with MS Drainer software.
Dec 21: Scam Sniffer reports new phishing sites targeting Web3 platforms.
Dec 25 (Christmas Day): $3 million in cryptocurrencies stolen.
Google Ads was used to promote fake versions of Web3 websites, including Zapper, Lido, Stargate, DefiLlama, Orbiter Finance, and Radient.
Scam Sniffer identified 10,072 fake MS Drainer sites throughout 2023.
Overall losses to MS Drainer exceed $58.98 million from over 63,000 victims.
TTD Surfer 🏄
Decentralised finance protocol KyberSwap has had to cut its workforce by 50% following a $48.8 million exploit in November.
Hong Kong regulators are proposing mandatory licenses for issuers of fiat-backed stablecoins.
On-chain trading platform Thunder Terminal was hacked, resulting in the transfer of 86.5 ETH (worth $192,000) to Railgun.
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