Global losses from cryptocurrency hacks reached $3.4 billion in 2025, marking one of the most damaging years on record despite a decline in the number of individual incidents. The figures come from early findings of the annual crypto crime review published by Chainalysis and were highlighted in a recent post on the company’s official X account.
The data shows a clear shift in the nature of crypto crime. Hackers carried out fewer attacks overall, but the average size of each breach rose sharply, pushing total losses slightly above 2024 levels. Analysts say the trend reflects a growing focus on high-value targets rather than opportunistic exploits.
Fewer hacks, much larger losses
According to Chainalysis, a small number of major incidents accounted for the majority of stolen funds in 2025. Just three large-scale hacks represented close to 70 percent of total losses, underlining the increasing concentration of damage from isolated breaches.
One attack alone, a breach at a major centralized exchange earlier this year, resulted in losses exceeding $1 billion. It ranks among the largest single crypto thefts ever recorded and heavily influenced the annual totals.
This concentration effect explains why overall losses increased even as confirmed hacking incidents declined. Attackers appear to be prioritising scale, targeting infrastructure failures or compromised private keys that unlock vast pools of customer funds.
Centralised platforms remain the weakest link
The 2025 data reinforces a familiar pattern. Centralised services continue to bear the brunt of major hacks, particularly through private key compromises and internal security failures. By contrast, losses linked to decentralised finance protocols remained relatively limited, even as total value locked in DeFi increased over the year.
Chainalysis notes that personal wallet breaches and account takeovers also rose in number, affecting tens of thousands of addresses. However, the total value stolen from individuals declined, suggesting attackers are spreading smaller thefts across more victims while reserving sophisticated operations for large institutional targets.
State-linked actors in focus
A significant share of stolen funds in 2025 has been attributed to state-aligned hacking groups, most notably those linked to North Korea. Chainalysis has repeatedly warned that such groups use crypto theft as a tool to bypass sanctions and fund strategic programmes.
These actors typically rely on complex laundering techniques, including cross-chain bridges, mixers and rapid asset swaps, making recovery difficult and enforcement resource-intensive.
Implications for regulation and digital money
The findings are likely to resonate beyond the crypto sector. European policymakers and central banks have frequently cited security, consumer protection and systemic risk as key arguments in favour of stronger oversight and the development of public digital payment infrastructure, including central bank digital currencies.
As crypto markets grow more interconnected with traditional finance, the persistence of billion-dollar hacks reinforces concerns about custody standards, governance and operational resilience at large platforms.
For regulators, the message from 2025 is clear. Crypto crime is becoming less frequent but far more destructive, raising the stakes for supervision, capital requirements and security obligations across the digital asset ecosystem.