According to new data from Crypto Analysis Firm Chainalysis, hackers stole over $2 billion in ciphers in the first half of 2025, recording the worst year on crypto theft records.
The blockchain analytics company said Thursday in a new report that $2.17 billion stolen in the first half of 2025 already exceeds the amount of codes 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, and was previously the worst year in stolen crypto records.
Much of the stolen cryptography this year came from a single violation on the Crypto Exchange Bybit, in which North Korean hackers stole over $1.4 billion in Crypto.
Chain Orisis said the Bibit Hack would fall within a broader pattern of North Korea’s hacking, “it will be central to the administration’s sanctions avoidance strategy.”
North Korea, largely blocked from the North and the international banking system, has been a horrifying threat in recent years by targeting Western companies to steal cryptocurrency with the aim of funding approved nuclear weapons programs. North Korea also relies on thousands of remote IT workers, which are restricting high-tech companies to earn wages, steal intellectual property, and then pay businesses to not publish sensitive files.
According to previous chain dissolution reports, North Korean hackers were criticised almost two-thirds of all crypto hacks in 2024.