In May, the total amount stolen from crypto hacks declined drastically compared to April, with the largest incident making up around 90% of the month’s total, according to a blockchain security firm.
The decline comes as the crypto industry has been stepping up its efforts to stay ahead of hackers. “In May 2025, ~20 major crypto hacks were recorded, resulting in total losses of $244.1M — a 39.29% decrease from April,” blockchain security firm PeckShield said in a May 31 X post.
The majority of funds from the month’s largest hack were frozen
The most significant hack of the month occurred on the Cetus decentralized exchange on May 22, with $223 million in user losses within 24 hours.
According to blockchain security firm Dedaub, the hackers exploited a flaw in the most significant bits (MSB) check, allowing them to manipulate the values for the liquidity parameters by orders of magnitude and establish relatively large positions with a keystroke.
PeckShield reported that Cetus and the Sui Network had frozen $157 million in stolen funds, about 71% of the total amount stolen. PeckShield identified the second-largest exploit of the month as a $12 million attack on the DeFi platform Cork Protocol.
According to the cybersecurity firm Cyvers, the Cork Protocol attacker used the exploit to steal roughly 3,761 Wrapped Staked Ether (wstETH), which was converted to Ether.
The last three of the five largest hacks for the month were a suspected DPRK-linked hack for $5.2 million, an MBU token exploit for $2.2 million, and a MapleStory Universe exploit for $1.2 million.
Crypto industry steps up fight against hackers
It comes as the crypto industry has been ramping up its efforts to protect itself against bad actors.
On May 31, Cointelegraph reported that crypto exchange BitMEX’s security team discovered gaps in the operational security of the Lazarus Group, a North Korean government-sponsored cybercrime network, following a counter-operations probe into the organization, which exposed IP addresses, a database, and tracking algorithms used by the malicious group.
Related: Insurance companies race to cover crypto kidnap and ransom risks
During the first quarter of 2025, hackers stole over $1.63 billion in cryptocurrency. PeckShield pointed out that the Bybit exploit accounted for more than 92% of total losses.
The firm also reported that over $87 million in crypto was lost to hacks in January, while February saw a dramatic spike to $1.53 billion, primarily due to the Bybit attack. That incident was one of the largest crypto thefts to date.
Magazine: Bitcoin $200K ‘obvious’ breakout, GameStop’s first BTC buy: Hodler’s Digest, May 25 – 31
