CertiK, a blockchain security firm, reports that nearly $2.5 billion was stolen during the first half of 2025 alone, despite advancements in cybersecurity measures like multifactor authentication systems and breach protection protocols. Ronghui Gu, co-founder of CertiK warns of an “endless war,” where hackers exploit human vulnerabilities to breach systems.
Cryptonews +8, Cryptopolitan +8 and Reddit all feature stories regarding cryptocurrency hacks as hackers increasingly exploit human vulnerabilities to breach systems.
Hack3d Report Reveals Increase in Crypto Theft
According to CertiK’s Hack3d report, 2025 witnessed over $2.47 billion lost due to hacks, scams, and exploits across 344 incidents; two major ones being the Bybit hack of $1.5 billion and Cetus Protocol exploits of $225 million being major culprits of these losses. Although the second quarter experienced both number and value reductions overall suggests an ongoing threat landscape. Cointelegraph +11
Human Behavior as a Target
Gu argues that as cybersecurity measures improve, attackers are shifting focus from technical risks to human ones. Operational risks, including private key compromises and phishing attacks, have become major contributors to security breaches. A recent phishing scam led an investor to lose $3 Million due to fraudsters using deceptive techniques to steal his/her sensitive information (cointelegraph + 7 and TodayOnChain respectively).
Ethereum as a Primary Target
Ethereum blockchain has emerged as a prime target for cybercriminals. Over $1.6 billion was lost due to hacks, scams and exploits during the first half of 2025 due to hacks on Ethereum-related transactions. Given Ethereum’s prominence as decentralized finance and smart contract activity platform, its dominance makes it an appealing target.
Cryptonews, Cryptopolitan and Cointelegraph reported incidents which compromised it during this period – an attractive proposition for cyberattackers.
Gu characterizes this battle as an “asymmetric conflict,” in which defenders must secure millions of lines of code across decentralized protocols while attackers need only find one vulnerability to exploit; such a disparity demonstrates the complexity associated with comprehensive security in cryptospace. She mentions Cryptopolitan +2 as well as Cointelegraph.
As The Future Looms Even with an overall decrease in incidents during the second quarter, Gu cautions that the threat from digital asset theft remains. He anticipates that digital assets stolen may still reach billion-dollar-level theft levels within several years and thus cryptocurrency industry must evolve its security strategies to account for both technical and human vulnerabilities.
[Investopedia | Cointelegraph | Cryptopolitan].
As the crypto ecosystem expands, so too do cyber threats. Stakeholders must remain vigilant and proactive in strengthening defenses in order to withstand this seemingly “endless war” against crypto hackers.
