As the crypto industry wraps up a monumental year, a new report shows the sector has lost nearly $3 billion due to evolving threats from malicious actors and increasing security challenges.
Crypto Losses Rise 45% in 2025
On Tuesday, blockchain security firm SlowMist released its 2025 Blockchain Security & AML Annual Report, detailing the severe security issues the crypto industry faced this year. According to the report, the total value stolen from crypto hacks grew by 46% compared to 2024, continuing a trend identified earlier. In fact, by the first half of 2025, crypto theft had already exceeded the total losses for all of 2024.
A mid-year report from Chainalysis noted that losses by the end of June were climbing at a much faster and more consistent rate than in any previous year. Now, as the year draws to a close, SlowMist data indicates that security incidents have led to roughly $2.935 billion in losses—a significant jump from the $2.013 billion lost in 2024.
Interestingly, while the total amount stolen increased, the number of incidents actually fell year-over-year, pointing to a trend of fewer but larger-scale heists. Incidents dropped by 51%, with 200 cases in 2025 compared to 410 in 2024.
DeFi remained the most targeted sector this year, with 126 security incidents making up about 63% of all hacks and resulting in roughly $649 million in losses. This marks a decrease of 37% in incidents and 62% in value compared to 2024, which saw 339 incidents and $1.029 billion in losses.
Centralized exchanges (CEXs) reported 22 incidents, accounting for $1.809 billion in losses. The largest of these was the Bybit hack in February, where approximately $1.46 billion was stolen in a single event, making it the most severe security breach of the year.
Regulatory Enforcement Intensifies
SlowMist noted that while phishing stayed among the most common schemes, scams and intrusive attacks continued to evolve in 2025. Scams have grown more deceptive and harder to detect, as malicious actors now use a mix of methods rather than relying on a single approach. Traditional phishing has expanded to include permission hijacking, malicious code execution, and supply-chain poisoning.
Attacks are increasingly combining social engineering, browser exploitation, new protocol mechanics, and hybrid lure strategies to create stealthy and damaging attack chains.
However, the report also highlighted a “clear trend of escalation” in global crypto enforcement and sanctions this year. Regulatory and law enforcement agencies stepped in directly to address crypto-related money laundering, fraud, sanctions evasion, and illicit financing.
Notably, there were 18 incidents in 2025 where stolen funds were either recovered or frozen. In these cases, out of a total of $1.95 billion stolen, nearly $387 million was successfully returned or frozen.
SlowMist concluded that “the development of the Web3 industry will no longer rely solely on technical innovation. Organizations that can build stronger internal security controls, more transparent fund governance models, and more comprehensive KYT/AML review capabilities will gain longer-term resilience in the next cycle.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of FAQs about the report stating crypto thefts have stolen nearly 3 billion in 2025 despite fewer attacks
Beginner General Questions
1 Wait 3 billion was stolen in crypto in 2025 Is that true
Yes according to a recent industry report While the number of individual hacking incidents has gone down the ones that succeeded were much larger and more sophisticated leading to a massive total value stolen
2 If the number of attacks decreased how did the losses increase so much
Think of it like bank robberies there are fewer breakins but the thieves are now targeting bigger vaults Hackers are focusing on major protocols bridges and institutions where they can steal hundreds of millions in a single wellplanned attack
3 What is a crypto theft or hack How does it happen
A crypto theft is when digital assets are stolen from a blockchain network exchange or users wallet Common methods include exploiting a flaw in a smart contracts code tricking users into giving up their private keys or compromising the private keys of a major service
4 Where is this money being stolen from
Primarily from decentralized finance protocols and crosschain bridges which transfer assets between different blockchains Centralized exchanges have improved security so they are less of a target than in past years
5 Is my money in crypto safe
It depends on where and how you hold it Funds on major regulated exchanges have strong insurance and security Funds you control in a selfcustody wallet are only as safe as your practices The greatest risk is often in interacting with new or unaudited DeFi apps
Advanced Technical Questions
6 What does fewer attacks but higher losses say about hacker trends
It indicates professionalization and better target selection Hackers are doing more reconnaissance to find critical vulnerabilities in highvalue systems rather than launching many small opportunistic attacks Its a shift from smashandgrab to big game hunting
7 What are crosschain bridges and why are they such a big target
Bridges are protocols that lock crypto on one blockchain and mint a representative version on another They are