The recent hack of Orbit Chain’s cross-chain bridge, Orbit Bridge, has escalated the total stolen cryptocurrency value in December 2023 to $100 million. This incident is part of a series of significant hacks recorded throughout the year, with the most substantial losses reported in September and November.
Blockchain security firm PeckShield announced the $81.5 million hack of Orbit Bridge on January 1st, making December the fifth month with the highest losses in 2023. This particular hack also ranks as the ninth-largest attack on a cross-chain bridge in the last three years.
Orbit Bridge, launched in South Korea in 2018, suffered unauthorized access on December 31st at 23:52 local time. Orbit Chain’s team has since requested global cryptocurrency exchanges to freeze the stolen assets and is working closely with law enforcement to track and secure the assets.
According to estimates from blockchain security firms PeckShield, CertiK, and Beosin, the crypto sector lost between $1.51 billion and $2 billion in 2023 due to hacks, scams, and rug-pulls. The months of September and November were particularly devastating, with over $700 million stolen in hacks alone.
The largest hack in September involved the Mixin Network, with losses exceeding $200 million. In November, the most significant hacks were those of Poloniex and the HTX/Heco Bridge, with losses of $131.4 million and $113.3 million, respectively. Other notable heists included the theft of $197 million from Euler Finance in March and $125 million from Multichain in July.
Blockchain security firm Beosin noted a significant decrease in total losses from hacks, phishing scams, and rug-pulls in 2023 compared to 2022, with a drop of approximately $2.38 billion. Consequently, losses from hacks fell by roughly 61.2%, from $3.6 billion in 2022 to $1.4 billion in 2023.