Journalist
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Key Takeaways
What happened?
A whale lost nearly $7 million worth of crypto assets from a phishing scam
What’s the state of crypto hacks in 2025?
Crypto hacks increased 15% in August, bringing lost funds to over $2.5 billion
A large crypto player lost $6.8 million after signing signatures to the wrong links, commonly known as phishing scams.
With the trick, the victim unknowingly gave access to over $4.3 million of staked Ethereum [ETH] and over $2.2 million of wrapped Bitcoin [BTC] to the attacker.
The hacker began laundering the funds immediately, with analysts picking the trail across multiple addresses and platforms like Tornado Cash.
Source: Reddit
Crypto hacks hit $2.5B in 2025
The above phishing attack always happens when the victim interacts with a malicious website or smart contract. They are one of the common attacks deployed by hackers that have risen sharply in Q3.
In fact, in August, about $163 million worth of crypto assets were stolen, a 15% increase from July, according to Web3 security firm Peckshield. The firm noted,
“In August 2025, ~16 major crypto exploits were recorded, resulting in total losses of $163 million—a 15% increase from July’s $142M.”
Overall, crypto hacks have hit $2.5 billion, with the $1.5 billion Bybit exploit in February being the largest.
According to Web3 security experts, one of the best ways to avoid most of these hacks, especially phishing scams, is to double-check the signature requests to ensure they are legitimate.
