Deribit is a crypto exchange based in the Netherlands. On November 1, the trading platform tweeted about losing $28 million following a hack. However, the company confirmed that the attack didn’t affect its customer assets. Moreover, it has suspended withdrawals until safety guarantees a re-open.
Deribit stated that the hack remained isolated to Bitcoin, USDC, and ETH hot wallets. Also, it highlighted that customer assets, Fireblocks, and any cold storage wallets were safe as company reserves would cover the losses. Deribit suspended withdrawals, including custodians Cobo and Copper Clearloop, until a security check on the network.
More Hacking in 2022?
Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics platform, revealed that October led with hacking activities in 2022. Furthermore, it presented the finding before mid-month (October 13). This year, the crypto space lost $3 billion to 125 attacks over DeFi (decentralized finance) protocols.
Chainalysis predicted that 2022 would likely exceed 2021 as far as hacking is concerned. Most crypto hacks in 2019 happened on centralized exchanges. However, these firms heightened security, and nearly 90% of the attacks in 2022 occurred on decentralized finance networks.
Hackers target cross-chain bridges. For instance, the bridge between Beacon Chain and BNB Smart Chain recorded the latest hacks, losing around $100 million. Meanwhile, the Wormhole bridge lost nearly $325 million in February following an exploit.
Also, Axie Infinity’s Ronin lost $625 million in March. Chainalysis’ Erin Plant told Fortune that a lucrative move to address security problems is massive code audits for creators developing the protocols and market players assessing them.
Indeed, the cryptocurrency world remains unsafe due to hacking activities. Developers and market players will have to fight these tendencies to make the market attractive.
The Crypto Space
Meanwhile, the crypto space remained in bearish hands during this publication. Bitcoin’s pricing is around the $20K level retreating after the recent failure to overcome the $21K hurdle. While publishing this blog, the bellwether crypto exchanged hands at $20,354.21, dropping 0.92% within 24 hours.
That saw the altcoin market losing the latest gains. The leading alt, Ethereum, lost 2.67% over the past day, trading at $1.552 during this writing.