Web3 Ecosystem Lost Over $428 M to Hacks and Scams in Q3 2022

According to data from Immunefi, frauds and scams reported a 62.9% decrease compared to Q3 2021.

The total volume of crypto funds lost by web3 ecosystem due to hacks and scams in Q3 2022 assessed to over $428.7 million, the firm report by bug bounty and security services platform Immunefi.

The paper – which estimates global web3 space at $3 trillion in 2021 – reports a loss of $398,912,483 to hacks across 30 specific incidents, and a loss of $29,805,600 to fraud across 9 specific incidents in Q3 2022. These numbers represent a 62.9% decrease compared to Q3 2021, when hackers and fraudsters stole $1,155,334,775.

Most of that sum was lost by 2 specific projects:

• $190,000,000 in the Nomad Bridge hacks on August 2nd, 2022, whose $36.4 million have been recovered;
• $160,000,000 during the global crypto market maker Wintermute hacks on September 20th, 2022.

Together, these two projects represent 79,85% of Q3 losses alone, totaling $350,000,000.

Hacks continue to be the predominant cause of losses as compared to frauds, scams, and rug pulls. An analysis of the losses shows that fraud accounts for only 7% of the total losses in the Q3 2022, while hacks account for 93%.

The report also shows that in Q3 2022 hacks decreased by 67.3% compared to Q1 2022, when losses caused by hacks totaled $1,218,500,867, and by 38.7% compared to Q2 2022, when $650,269,602 was lost. When compared to the losses of Q3 2021, where losses caused by hacks totaled $994,489,686, we’ve witnessed a 59.9% decrease.

On the other hand, frauds increased by 170.9% compared to Q1 2022, when losses caused by frauds, scams, and rug pulls totaled $11,000,000 and a 838.9% increase compared to Q2 2022, when $3,174,359 was lost. When compared to the losses of Q3 2021, where losses caused by frauds, scams, and rug pulls totaled $160,845,089, we’ve witnessed a 81.5% decrease.

Moreover, DeFi has suffered $423,423,783 in total losses in the Q3 2022 across 36 incidents, a 36.8% decrease in losses when compared to Q2 2022 ($670,608,280 lost across 49 incidents), while CeFi has suffered $5,294,300 in total losses across 3 incidents. In, a 5782.6% increase when compared with Q2 2022 results ($90,000 across 1 incident).

Since the start of 2022, Immunefi reports a total loss of $2,328,917,230, while $93,800,000 has been recovered from stolen funds, making up 4% of the total losses YTD.