Crypto Thefts Rise Nearly Fourfold Over Year to $370M in January

The value of cryptocurrency stolen through exploits and scams reached $370.3 million last month, the highest monthly figure in 11 months and a nearly fourfold rise from January 2025. 

Crypto security company CertiK said on Saturday that of the 40 exploit and scam incidents over January, the majority of the total value stolen came from one victim that lost around $284 million due to a social engineering scam.

A significant portion of the more than $370 million stolen came as a result of phishing scams, which stole $311.3 million over the month.

January’s figure is the largest monthly loss of crypto since February 2025, when attackers made off with around $1.5 billion in total over the month, a majority of which came from the $1.4 billion hack on crypto exchange Bybit, according to CertiK.

The latest figures mark a more than 277% increase from January 2025, when attackers stole $98 million. It’s also a 214% increase from December, which saw $117.8 million lost to crypto theft, CertiK said.

Step Finance, Truebit attacks among largest hacks

Security company PeckShield said on Sunday that the hack of Step Finance on Saturday was the largest for the month.

Attackers stole around $28.9 million in the attack on the decentralized finance portfolio tracker, where several of its treasury wallets were compromised, with more than 261,000 Solana (SOL) taken.

Related: Bybit made ‘slow but steady comeback’ in 2025 after massive hack: CoinGecko

The next-largest exploit for the month was the $26.4 million attack on the Truebit protocol on Jan. 8, when a flaw in a smart contract allowed an attacker to mint tokens at nearly no cost, which also crashed the price of the Truebit (TRU) token.

PeckShield also noted the $13.3 million hack on liquidity provider SwapNet on Jan. 26 and the $7 million exploit against the blockchain protocol Saga on Jan. 21.

The company said there were 16 hacks in total across January, totaling $86.01 million in losses, a 1.42% decrease from a year ago, but a more than 13% jump from December.

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