Despite the decline, industry experts warn that evolving tactics from North Korea-backed attackers mean the calm may be temporary.
The cryptocurrency market experienced a rare moment of relief in October, as the total value lost to hacks and exploits reached its lowest level of the year.
Data from blockchain security firm PeckShield shows that only $18.18 million was stolen across 15 separate incidents. This represents a steep 85.7% decline from the $127.06 million recorded in September.
The largest incidents of the month occurred at Garden Finance, Typus Finance, and Abracadabra, which collectively accounted for $16.2 million of the total stolen funds.
Garden Finance, a Bitcoin peer-to-peer protocol, disclosed on October 30 that it had been exploited for more than $10 million after one of its solvers was compromised.
The breach, which affected only the solver’s own inventory, pushed October’s loss figures higher in the final hours of the month.
Without the Garden Finance incident, total losses would have hovered near $7.18 million — the lowest single-month value since early 2023.
Typus Finance, a yield platform built on Sui, suffered an oracle manipulation attack on October 15. The exploit drained roughly $3.4 million from its liquidity pools.
Investigators later traced the attack to a flaw in one of its TLP contracts, which caused the project’s native token to drop by about 35%.
Around the same time, DeFi lending platform Abracadabra endured its third exploit since launch. The attack resulted in roughly $1.8 million in MIM stablecoin losses after hackers bypassed solvency checks through a smart contract vulnerability.
While October’s modest loss figures suggest improved protocol security, cybersecurity experts warn that the threat landscape continues to evolve.
Earlier this month, BeInCrypto reported that state-sponsored groups, particularly North Korea-linked hackers, are experimenting with embedding malicious code directly into blockchain networks. This emerging tactic could bypass traditional security layers and create new risks for decentralized systems.
Essentially, this emerging phase of blockchain-focused cyberwarfare highlights a sobering reality that while DeFi protocols strengthen their defenses, threat actors continue to evolve at the same pace.
So, the industry’s best month of 2025 may therefore mark a temporary reprieve rather than the start of lasting safety.
