PeckShield: Crypto Community Lost $244 Million in May Due to Hacker Attacks

In May 2025, crypto projects around the world suffered losses as a result of hacker attacks, of which 20 were recorded. The total amount of lost funds was $244.1 million, which is almost 40% less than the month before, experts from PeckShield reported.

One of the largest incidents was the hacking of liquidity pools of the Cetus DEX exchange, which operates on the Sui blockchain. The potential damage from this attack is estimated at $223 million. However, thanks to the prompt actions of the network validators, $163 million was frozen at two addresses of the attacker, preventing their further movement. The Sui community supported the protocol update, which will allow returning part of the stolen cryptocurrency and compensating the losses to users. In turn, the Cetus developers offered the hacker $6 million if he returned them 20,920 ETH, which he withdrew before the blocking. According to Dedaub specialists, the cause of the incident was a critical vulnerability in the liquidity parameters verification system used by the automatic market maker.

Another high-profile case was the attack on the DeFi protocol Cork Protocol. 12 million in cryptocurrency was stolen by taking advantage of a security flaw in the platform's smart contracts.

The third largest incident in terms of damage was the one involving an individual investor, from whom $5.2 million was stolen. Preliminary investigations indicate the possible involvement of a hacker group linked to the DPRK.

These events highlight that while overall losses have fallen compared to previous months, risks to users and projects remain high, particularly in the DeFi space where complex smart contracts are a constant target for cybercriminals.