- Total crypto losses from hacks and exploits fell 60% in December to $76 million, a sharp decline from the $194.2 million recorded in November across 26 major incidents.
- The month’s largest theft involved a $50 million “address poisoning” scam where a victim accidentally sent funds to a lookalike wallet.
- Trust Wallet committed to fully reimbursing users following a $7 million Christmas Eve exploit caused by a malicious code update to its Chrome browser extension.
Crypto theft and exploit losses totaled about US$76 million (AU$116.2 million) in December, down 60% from US$194.2 million (AU$297.1 million) in November, according to blockchain security firm PeckShield.
The firm said it tracked 26 major incidents during the month. The biggest single loss was a US$50 million (AU$76.5 million) address-poisoning scam.
In this type of fraud, an attacker sends small “bait” transfers from a wallet address that closely resembles a real one, hoping the victim later selects the wrong address from their transaction history. The lookalike often matches the first and last characters of the legitimate address.
PeckShield said another large case involved about US$27.3 million (AU$41.7 million) stolen after a private key leak led to a multi-signature wallet being compromised.
Keep in mind that hacks in the first half of 2025 hit a record high and were driven by nation-states and geopolitically motivated groups, marking a clear shift in crypto hacking, as Crypto News Australia reported.
Read more: Strategy Resumes Bitcoin Buying, Lifting Holdings to 672,497 BTC
The Trust Wallet Incident
Among the higher-profile incidents in December, PeckShield cited the Christmas Trust Wallet attack that drained about US$7 million (AU$10/7 million) from users and the US$3.9 million (AU$5.9 million) exploit involving Flow.
The team said in a blog post that all affected users will be reimbursed, but no concrete plan has been shared yet.
Trust Wallet has decided to voluntarily reimburse the affected users. We are finalizing the reimbursement workflow and ownership verification process, and have already started working with victims that have contacted us over the past few days.
Trust Wallet PeckShield said the Trust Wallet issue affected its browser extension and noted that browser-based wallets are typically always online, which can increase exposure to certain attacks.
Read more: Bitmine Amasses 3.41% of Ethereum Supply, Eyes Staking Windfall
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