Hackers have stolen more than $2 billion in crypto during the first half of 2025, according to new data from crypto analysis firm Chainalysis, marking the worst year-to-date on record for crypto thefts.
The blockchain analysis company said Thursday in a new report that the $2.17 billion stolen during the first half of 2025 has already surpassed the amount of crypto lost last year. Not only that, the amount of cryptocurrency stolen during the first six months of 2025 was about 17% higher than the same period in 2022, which was previously the worst year on record for stolen crypto.
Much of the stolen crypto this year was attributed to a single breach at crypto exchange Bybit, which saw North Korean hackers steal more than $1.4 billion in crypto, much of it subsequently laundered and funneled into the North Korean regime, per the FBI.
Chainalysis said the Bybit hack falls within a broader pattern of North Korean hacks, which have “become increasingly central to the regime’s sanctions evasion strategies.”
North Korea, largely cut off from the outside world and the international banking system, has become a formidable threat in recent years by targeting Western companies to steal cryptocurrency with the aim of funding its sanctioned nuclear weapons program. North Korea has also relied on thousands of remote IT workers, who infiltrate tech companies to earn a wage, steal intellectual property, and then extort companies into paying so as not to publish their sensitive files.
According to an earlier Chainalysis report, North Korean hackers were blamed for almost two-thirds of all crypto hacks during 2024.
