Key Takeaways
August saw $163 million stolen from crypto users and exchanges, with major breaches like a 783 BTC wallet hack and repeated attacks on BtcTurk highlighting growing sophistication in cybercrime.
Crypto users and exchanges faced a turbulent month, with blockchain security firm PeckShield reporting a total of $163 million in stolen assets.
August — The deadliest month for crypto?
August proved to be another turbulent month for the crypto space, with losses piling up across exchanges, DeFi protocols, and individual wallets.
The most significant single loss occurred on the 19th of August, when a Bitcoin holder fell victim to a social engineering attack.
The attackers posed as support agents for a hardware wallet and tricked the user into revealing their credentials.
This led to a transfer of 783 BTC (worth $91.4 million) to the criminals, who quickly funneled the funds through Wasabi Wallet, a privacy-focused tool often used to obscure transaction trails.
Turkey’s largest crypto exchange, BtcTurk, faced yet another blow, reporting a theft of $48–54 million after hackers compromised hot-wallet keys.
Other attacks and exploits
Other notable incidents included a $7 million loss at ODIN•FUN, $5 million drained from BetterBank.io, and a $4.5 million exploit on CrediX Finance.
BetterBank’s PulseChain protocol was specifically targeted through its bonus minting system, where attackers created fake liquidity pools to harvest unlimited rewards.
Despite warnings from the auditor Zokyo, the team ignored them, causing a partial loss that the attackers later returned, blurring the line between a hack and a so-called “white hat” event.
This episode exposed the risks of ignored audits, flawed DeFi designs, and misaligned incentives, showing that even highly touted protocols can crumble under human mismanagement.
Additionally, the CrediX hack escalated when the attackers turned it into what appeared to be an exit scam.
The attackers initially agreed to return the stolen funds.
But, they ultimately routed the assets through Tornado Cash, a mixing service designed to anonymize blockchain transactions.
However, physical attacks against crypto holders remained rare, with only one reported incident in Paris.
Kidnappers seized a former trader for a €10,000 ransom but later released him, leaving him with facial injuries.
What’s more?
These August losses follow a steep upward trend in crypto-related hacks, with July already seeing a 27% increase from June.
All in all, the first half of 2025 underscores a stark reality for the crypto industry, with over $2.3 billion already lost to hacks.
This total also includes massive incidents like the Bybit breach and the $225 million Cetus Protocol exploit.
According to PeckShield, wallet breaches alone have cost users $1.7 billion across 34 incidents this year.
Analysts suggest that soaring crypto prices, with Bitcoin consistently trading above $100,000, may be incentivizing attackers.
Though security teams are intensifying efforts to patch vulnerabilities, threats continue to grow.
Therefore, it’s clear that the crypto sector’s rapid growth is matched by an equally aggressive and evolving wave of cyber threats.
