Crypto Hacks Skyrocket in July, Reaching $247 Million in Stolen Assets

July was a disastrous month for cryptocurrency security, with an estimated $247.4 million stolen in a series of high-profile hacks and exploits.

The attacks targeted various components of the crypto ecosystem, including hardware wallets, bridges, lending protocols, and trading platforms, more than tripling the roughly $75 million lost in June and quadrupling May's $60 million losses.

The defining incident was the Coldcard exploit, which saw hackers gain unauthorized access to at least 7,300 Bitcoin wallets, resulting in over $115 million in stolen BTC. This vulnerability highlights that cold storage can reduce exposure to online attacks but does not eliminate risks originating from inside wallet hardware or firmware.

Arbitrum's AFX-related bridge and decentralized trading platform Ostium were also hit, losing approximately $24.15 million and $23.75 million respectively. Bonzo Lend suffered a loss of around $9 million after an attacker manipulated the price of SAUCE through a vulnerability in a third-party oracle's verification system.

The Verus-Ethereum Bridge lost approximately $7.53 million on July 22, while Wanchain suffered another $6.5 million loss a day earlier in a signature-related exploit.