The global cryptocurrency industry endured another turbulent year in 2025, with stolen digital assets surging to more than $3.4 billion, according to a new report from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. The spike, a 54 per cent increase from 2024’s $2.2 billion in thefts, reflects a shift toward fewer but far more devastating attacks.
The standout incident was the February 2025 hack of crypto exchange Bybit, which saw $1.5 billion stolen, making it the largest single crypto theft on record and a major driver of the year’s total losses. Chainalysis highlighted that top-tier breaches are increasingly shaping overall figures, with the top three hacks accounting for 69 per cent of all service-related losses in 2025.
“Crypto theft in 2025 was heavily outlier-driven, with a small number of attacks accounting for the bulk of losses,” the report said. “The ratio between the largest hack and the median theft crossed the 1,000 times threshold for the first time, surpassing levels seen during the 2021 bull market.”
Personal wallet compromises also remained a concern, rising from 7.3 per cent of stolen value in 2022 to 44 per cent in 2024. In 2025, their share would have been 37 per cent were it not for the outsized impact of the Bybit breach.
North Korea continued to pose the largest nation-state threat, despite fewer confirmed attacks. Hackers linked to the DPRK reportedly stole at least $2.02 billion in 2025, up 51 per cent from 2024, accounting for 76 per cent of all service-related compromises. “DPRK-linked actors tend to carry out fewer but much higher-value attacks,” Chainalysis noted, adding that they rely on sophisticated social engineering and distinct laundering tactics, often splitting transfers into smaller amounts and favoring Chinese-language networks.
The Bybit hack sent shockwaves through the crypto ecosystem, with Ethereum valued at $1.4 billion drained from one of the platform’s offline wallets, underscoring the escalating financial risk for exchanges and users alike.
