Crypto hackers and scammers stole more than $ 163 million from the crypto space in August throughout 16 separate attacks -with a social engineering attack against a bitcoiner accounting for part of lion’s losses.
Blockchain Security Firm Peckshield Says In an X post on Monday that August losses were a 15% increase compared to Julythat recorded only $ 142 million, Even if it goes down 47% years in the year.
Cybersecurity experts Coinelegraph said the increase in August was urged by hackers who were moving their efforts to high -value targets and the increasing crypto prices.
Crypto hackers focus on high -value targets
In a conversation with Cointelegraph, Peckshield said there was a strategic shift of hackers last month, as they are now focused Centralized exchanges and other high -value targets.
Two incidents in particular raised the whole for August. A bitcoiner already the victim of a social engineering attack Lost 783 bitcoin (Btc), costs $ 91 million in time, in a single transaction after a bad actor masqueraded as a crypto support and hardware wallet support.
Another is the Turkish Crypto Exchange Btcturk, who saw Nearly $ 50 million to stolen crypto After an attacking already -accessing Its hot wallets. It is also the second major security violation for the exchange, along with another close identical attack on June 2024.
However, Peckshield said the number of hacks was dropping below, with 16 recorded on August, compared to 17 on July and 20 on June.
“Looking at the wider picture over the past 8 months, the total number of hacks has shown a declining course. This is positive news and suggests improvements to the overall security of the ecosystem.”
Crypto price booms also play a factor
Hank Huang, CEO of Kronos Research, told Cointelegraph that cryptoes exploit often rise next to crypto prices, creating high cost rewards for hitting major targets.
Both bitcoin and ether (Eth) experienced new all-time highs in August. Bitcoin crossed more than $ 124,000 on August 14, while Ether flowed $ 4,946 on August 24th.
“The August surge features how attacks on attacks in centralized wallets using sophisticated phishing and social engineering to expose operating weaknesses,” Huang added.
Related: Crypto Seed phrase, front-end hacks drive record losses in 2025: TRM Labs
Total losses are trending downward, along $ 176 million lost in hacks in JuneA 54.2% drop from May, when scammers make $ 385 million. There is $ 142 million lost to hackers in July.
However, Huang predicts that losses can continue to rise for the rest of the years, “driven not only by increasing crypto prices but even beyond the slow and steady lag in improvement of security technology to prevent these attacks.”
The new tech can pillow the blow to crypto
Huang also said there could be new technology and better security measures in the end, which is likely to help long -term losses.
“As emerging technology progresses, improvements driven by AI and stronger security models should help pillow the impact of the future,” he said.
Meanwhile, Peckshield said high -value targets, such as corporations and individuals with Crypto It should be ensured that strong security measures are in place.
“We recommend that targets of high-value-both corporations and individuals-should be more vigilant and actively implementing stable security measures.”
