The first half of 2025 exposed deep vulnerabilities in the crypto industry, with hackers stealing over $2.1 billion across 75 separate incidents.
However, even outside of that breach, several months, namely January, April, May, and June, each recorded over $100 million in damages from individual attacks.
Meanwhile, had the Bybit hack not occurred, total losses from these incidents might have landed closer to $600 million, the lowest mid-year figure since 2023.
The bulk of 2025’s crypto hacks stemmed from structural weaknesses in how digital asset systems are built and accessed.
TRM Labs stated that attacks involving stolen private keys, compromised seed phrases, and manipulated front-end interfaces were responsible for over 80% of stolen funds.
These infrastructure-based breaches often exploit trust gaps and internal vulnerabilities, allowing bad actors to seize control of platforms or redirect funds without triggering standard alerts.
Meanwhile, DeFi smart contracts weren’t spared either. Protocol-level attacks, such as re-entrancy exploits and flash loan manipulations, comprised around 12% of recorded incidents.
These often target logic flaws in decentralized applications, demonstrating that even well-audited code remains susceptible under complex financial operations.
According to the report, geopolitical motivations also played a visible role in the emerging industry’s escalating threats.
This figure underlines the Asian country’s continued reliance on crypto theft to support state initiatives. TRM Labs pointed out that these attack campaigns are connected to funding programs that include military and nuclear development and broader efforts to evade global sanctions.
The attackers reportedly claimed the operation aimed to disrupt Iranian efforts to bypass financial restrictions. Notably, the stolen assets were sent to unusable blockchain addresses, suggesting the attack was designed more as a political statement than a profit-driven heist.
These developments suggest that digital asset theft is increasingly becoming a tactical tool in international disputes.
